Introduction: Canadian Patients Review CDR Effectiveness

The Best Medicines Coalition (BMC) is a national group of organizations representing millions of Canadians living with or affected by chronic disease. With a mission to ensure access to the best evidence-based medicines for Canadians, BMC’s members support implementation of a national system to achieve this goal. Likewise, the BMC is steadfast in its goal that public bodies, including the Common Drug Review (CDR), deliver a service that addresses the needs of Canadian patients in an efficient, consistent and effective manner.

From a patient perspective, the CDR’s stated goals of providing consistency and reducing duplication while maximizing resources are worthwhile and necessary. In practice, however, the CDR has emerged as a significant barrier to individuals requiring treatment access, tangibly and profoundly compromising the health outcomes of Canadian patients and failing to meet its stated goals.

BMC has expressed its members’ concerns since CDR’s earliest days, as evidenced by the attached letter. At this time, the BMC appreciates the value of the Standing Committee on Health’s work and commends its members for their proactive review of the CDR.

The following submission to the Standing Committee on Health presents four key questions about the CDR’s performance, supported by issue outlines and case studies, which the BMC believes address the crux of patient concerns regarding the CDR:

• Are the CDR’s recommendations based on sound pharmacoeconomic principles and best practices of medical care?
  
  
• Has the CDR contributed to equal treatment access across the country?
  
  
• Has the CDR had a positive impact on the efficiency at which drugs are reviewed and access provided?
  
  
• Have the CDR’s processes for review been fair, equitable, transparent and effective?

To read the full submission, click here [0] (PDF file).