WATCH: A new federal government plan will require pharmaceutical companies to make drug shortages or face a fine. But as Mike Drolet reports, critics say the naming and shaming plan won’t solve the problem.
VANCOUVER – Canada’s health minister says companies will be required to post drug shortages on a new website or risk being named and shamed.
Rona Ambrose says the site will include letters to companies that have not publicly posted anticipated and actual drug shortages.
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Any company that fails to meet the mandatory requirement will be fined.
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Ambrose says that so far, companies have volunteered to post shortages but one firm recently failed to notify the public when it was running out of a cancer drug.
The minister says Health Canada has also sent letters to pharmaceutical companies for not providing timely notifications of shortages of nitroglycerin, which is used to treat a heart condition.
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Ambrose says Canadians and their doctors need to be informed when the drugs they need are not available in the midst of what is a global problem.
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