The Federal Court granted leave to the United States of America (USA), in its capacity as co-owner of a patent, to file its own pleading in an action under s 6(1) of the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations (PM(NOC) Regulations). The USA was permitted to respond to the defendant’s (Apotex Inc.) allegations of invalidity, including by making new and different allegations than those made by the plaintiff.  Background This decision arose in the context…

On December 18, 2019, Health Canada published a new Guidance Document Software as a Medical Device (SaMD): Definition and Classification (Guidance Document). The Guidance Document explains what products would be regulated as SaMD under the Food and Drugs Act (Act) and the Medical Devices Regulations (Regulations) as well as information on classification of SaMD. What Constitutes SaMD Not all software falls within the scope of the Act and Regulations. The Guidance Document provides current interpretations…

In this article, the Pharma in Brief team curated the most significant topics we covered during 2019. The Canadian pharma and life sciences space saw many developments in 2019. These included major policy initiatives and regulatory changes affecting the industry, driven in part by three high-profile federal objectives: lowering drug prices to move towards national pharmacare, replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and changes to drug approval pathways. There were few pharmaceutical patent…

The Federal Court has vindicated Lilly, reinstating a patent infringement damages decision that awarded Lilly prejudgment interest equal to its average annual rate of return during the interest earning period, on a compound basis. It found that Lilly’s real-world rate of return was convincing evidence of both what could have and what would have occurred in the but-for world. Background This was a redetermination of the prejudgment interest portion of damages awarded to Eli Lilly…

The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (the Ministry) has amended Regulations made under the Ontario Drug Benefit Act (ODBA) and the Ontario Drug Interchangeability and Dispensing Fee Act (DIDFA). The new Regulations are substantially similar to those originally proposed (as we reported). The intended effect of the amendments is to reduce technical requirements for listing a product on the Ontario formulary and align policies with industry standards and other provinces. The amendments…

The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (the Ministry) introduced changes to regulations (collectively, the Regulations) made under the Ontario Drug Benefit Act (ODBA) and the Drug Interchangeability and Dispensing Fee Act (DIDFA). These changes will remove the financial caps on ordinary commercial term (OCT) payments made by drug manufacturers to pharmacies and allow private label products to be listed as benefits or be designated as “interchangeable”. The amendments to the Regulations come into…

On December 10, 2019, Canada, the United States, and Mexico agreed to amend the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA, also referred to as USMCA) as the trade agreement proceeds toward ratification in each country. Among other changes, the amended CUSMA no longer requires Canada to extend data protection for biologics to 10 years from the 8 years currently provided under Canadian law. Changes to the CUSMA As we reported, the previous version of CUSMA required two…