Fraser Institute Reports Unnecessary Delays Approving Cancer Drugs In Canada
By Cyndi Root
The Fraser Institute, a Canadian think-tank, issued a press release stating that unnecessary delays approving cancer medicines is hurting patients and wasting taxpayer money. Its new study examines the role of the pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review (pCODR) organization, which reviews oncology medicines in Canada.
Because the Canadian provinces may opt to ignore pCODR’s advice, the Fraser Institute says the organization is an extra layer of bureaucracy, and not helpful to cancer patients.
Nigel Rawson, study author and Fraser Institute senior fellow, said, “If pCODR, which is funded by taxpayers, does not improve access to new oncology medicines, it’s fair to ask why the organization exists. Time is everything when you’re fighting cancer.”
pCODR Study
The Institute’s study is titled, “Has pCODR Improved Access to Oncology Drugs?” It studies the agency that evaluates new oncology drugs and makes positive or negative recommendations to the provinces, excluding Quebec. Established in 2010, pCODR is the first step for a drug if it wants to make a province’s approved drug list for insurance purposes. The agency states that reviews take five to eight months. However, the study found that some reviews took as long as 10 months.
Because the provinces make their own choices, a drug may be approved in one province and not another.
The study says that even when the pCODR finally approves drugs, the provinces have their own delays. They spend more time adding the drug to insurance plans. The amount of time varies by province beginning from the time the drug is submitted to pCODR for approval to when the province adds the drug to insurance coverage. Newfoundland and Labrador took the longest, nearly a year, followed closely by New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. The fastest province to make cancer drugs available to cancer patients is Ontario with 150 days.
The Institute did not just point out problems however; it also offered some solutions. It recommends that pCODR and the provinces look at the duplicate work involved. It also calls for the provinces to institute a policy for reviewing drugs within 120 days after pCODR recommends them.