A private members’ bill that intends to make it easier for developing countries to acquire life-saving drugs made it over a key procedural hurdle this week.
Bill C-393 amends Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime by cutting through the bureaucratic red tape that has stymied companies that want to send cheap drugs to developing states.
The bill was originally put forward by Judy Wasylycia-Leis, but the New Democrat resigned her post in 2010 to run in the Winnipeg mayoral election – leaving Bill C-393 without a sponsor.
It was because of that procedural technicality that the bill was at risk of being killed before going to vote in Parliament.
On Wednesday the House of Commons gave unanimous consent to allow that the sponsorship of Bill C-393 be transferred to NDP MP Paul Dewar.
Without that consent the bill would have been left with no sponsor, and likely would have died on the vine.
CAMR was lauded as landmark legislation when it was passed with all-party support in 2004.
But since its inception CAMR has had only one successful case of getting generic drugs into a developing country. In September 2008, generic drug company Apotex shipped millions of units of Apo-TriAvir, a triple-combination AIDS drug, from Toronto to Rwanda. It took another full year for the second shipment to arrive.
Jack Kay, the president of Apotex, said CAMR’s process was costly, lengthy and cumbersome, and the company wouldn’t use it again unless changes to the regime were made.
Bill C-393’s amendment to CAMR, referred to as the one-license solution, aims to cut through the red tape that has debilitated the regime.
Numerous advocates of Bill C-393 have campaigned over the past few months, asking MPs to put the legislation to a vote.
Groups like the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign, Oxfam Canada, UNICEF Canada, and Avaaz.org asked Canadians to sign petitions, contact their local MPs, and raise awareness for the bill.
NDP MP Brian Masse, who championed for this bill for the past year, says Wednesday’s decision in the House is a promising example of bipartisanship.
“We saw proof today that parliamentarians really can get things done together,” said Masse.
“Six million people die each year in the developing world today from treatable illnesses like TB, malaria and HIV/AIDS. Keeping Bill C-393 alive is our best shot at getting life-saving drugs to these people. This was a good day."
MPs debated the bill on Monday. The second hour of debate will take place in about 30 sitting days, to be followed by a vote.
Dewar, the bill’s new sponsor, said that while Wednesday’s transfer of sponsorship is a step in the right direction, there are still many hurdles to face leading up to the parliamentary vote.
During the first hour of debate on Monday, Conservative MP Mike Wallace said that “none of the motions to amend Bill C-393 should be accepted by members of Parliament,” and that the bill should be defeated at its third reading. “Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime works and does not requiring changing,” said Wallace.
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