On May 29, 2019, the federal government introduced Bill C‑100 to implement the new trilateral trade deal known as the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA, also referred to as USMCA), making Canada the first of the three member countries to introduce legislation that would ratify the treaty. CUSMA provides more protections for biologic and innovative pharmaceuticals under Canadian law. However, the treaty does not require the immediate adoption of these new protections and none of them…

On March 20, 2019, new amendments to both the Food and Drug Regulations (the Regulations) and the Medical Devices Regulations regarding the disclosure of clinical data were published in the Canada Gazette. These changes follow from the May 2017 release of Health Canada’s white paper – Public Release of Clinical Information in Drug Submissions and Medical Device Applications (which we have previously reported on here and here), and confirm Health Canada’s decision to…

As we reported the Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare recently released an interim report calling for the creation of a national drug agency.  Yesterday, the federal government announced funding to implement this recommendation. Specifically, the government intends to work with partners to implement the following: Create the Canadian Drug Agency — to provide a coordinated approach on prescription drugs. Budget 2019 proposes to provide Health Canada with $35 million over four years,…

The Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare (“Council”) presented an interim report following consultation with Canadians.  The report outlines work done to date by the Council, core principles the Council believes should underpin national pharmacare, and initial foundational recommendations. As we reported, the Council consulted with Canadians on the implementation of a national program to fund prescription drugs.  The Council engaged with patients and caregivers, healthcare providers, representatives of Indigenous organizations, government…

Effective February 11, 2019, Advertising Standards Canada (Ad Standards Canada) will implement a new Advertising Dispute Procedure (the Procedure) to govern complaints between competitors for  alleged breaches of the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards (the Code). The new Procedure (formerly known as the Trade Disputes Procedure) is designed to further streamline the resolution process for advertising complaints between competitors. Key elements of the Procedure include:  New pre-conditions for accepting a complaint. Ad Standards Canada will…

On January 7, 2019, Health Canada opened a consultation on whether to include the names of sponsor companies on the generic submissions under review list (GSUR) for Abbreviated New Drug Submissions (ANDSs). This type of information was recently added to the list of drug and health product submissions under review (SUR) that Health Canada has maintained since 2015. Historically, the SUR list has been restricted to New Drug Submissions (NDSs) and Supplemental New Drugs Submissions…

Last year ushered in a number of changes to the Canadian pharmaceutical and life sciences sector. 2018 also served as a year to explore the impacts of major intellectual property decisions and regulatory changes from 2017 including the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision in NEXIUM striking down the Promise Doctrine and the implementation of CETA on single-track patent litigation under the newly amended Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations. Further, a number of IP…