Campaign for a
National Drug Plan
Canada's Drug Problem
DRUG INDEX
Direct-to-Consumer
Drug Advertising
Nancy Olivieri receives
the Vanessa Young
Award for Public Guardians
|
Big Pharma Archive
Canadians Can’t Afford Not to
Have a Public Drug Plan
Click here / Cliquez ici
National Pharmaceutical Strategy
Canadian Health Coalition
Firms tied to some MDs who set policy: Treatment advice focuses on drugs, researchers find
Boston Globe, April 2009
CANADIAN RX ATLAS
Canadian governments, employers, unions, and patients currently spend more money on
prescription drugs (about $20 billion in 2007) than is spent on all services provided by physicians
in Canada. At the same time, prescription drug spending per capita varies by over 50% across provinces.
Surprisingly little information is systematically collected to determine which drugs account for most
of the spending in Canada, what factors drive interprovincial variations in spending, and whether
population age is an important cause of spending variations across provinces and trends over time. The
2nd edition of The Canadian Rx Atlas significantly enhances our understanding of medicine use by
providing the first-ever portrait of age-specific patterns of prescription drug use and costs across
provinces. It breaks down nearly $20 billion in prescription drug spending (private and public) and
provides a comprehensive portrait of the factors that drive trends over time and variations across provinces.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE NEW ATLAS
KEY FINDINGS
Québec's 2-tier system a massive subsidy to big pharma
Montreal Gazette, August 2008
Can you afford drugs that may save your life? Toronto Star / June 10, 2008
Tranquillisers putting children's lives at risk UK Guardian / April 7, 2008
Big Profits from Drugging Seniors Common Ground, April 2008
Drug recalls linked to U.S. testing deadlines Globe and Mail, March 27, 2008
End drug sponsorship of doctors' seminars, medical journal says Ottawa Citizen, March 25, 2008
Lavish perks from drug companies compromise doctors' ethics Globe and Mail, March 25, 2008
Publish or Perish
READ THE EDITORIAL
(Ottawa Citizen, January 30, 2008)
Ghost Management:
How Much of the Medical Literature Is Shaped Behind the Scenes
by the Pharmaceutical Industry?
CLICK HERE TO DOWNOLAD
(PLoS, September 2007)
HPV Vaccine Controversy
CLICK HERE TO ENTER
Government by the Pharma, for the Pharma Suburban, Aug. 2007
Pharma Behaving Badly Financial Times, August 2007
Bulk buying of drugs would save billions: New Zealand negotiates up to 90% savings Vancouver Sun, Aug. 2007
Government by the Pharma, for the Pharma Suburban, Aug. 2007
Prescription for a drug disaster Common Ground, Aufust 2007
Progressive drug licensing: An opportunity to achieve
transparency and accountability? James Wright, June 2007
Patent nonsense: Evidence tells of an industry out of social control CMA, August 2006
Clement's Conflict of Interest
Federal Health Minister Tony Clement
owns 25% stake in drug company (June 2006)
Health Coalition calls on Minister to divest or resign
UPDATE: Clement transfers shares in drug company (October 2006)
Interview with Barbara Mintzes on
Direct to Consumer Drug Advertising and
the CanWest Mediaworks Charter Challenge
CBC Radio's Sunday Morning with Michael Enright
(Audio, Duration: 24 Minutes, January 21, 2007)
Description: CanWest Mediaworks has launched a charter challenge
against Health Canada in order to be allowed to sell advertising to Drug
Companies, similar to the situation in the United States. Barbara Mintzes,
University of British Columbia's Centre for Health Services and Policy
Research, is stunned by the decision and has written and researched
extensively the effect of such advertisements on viewers attitudes to
health and wellness. She spoke with Michael from Paris, France.
Click here to listen to the interview
More information on Direct to Consumer Drug Advertising
Information on the CanWest Mediaworks Charter Challenge
CBS Exposé on Big Pharma Lobbying CBS, April 2007
New Zealand Court Fines Glaxo for Misleading Advertising Reuters, March 2007
Taking Back the FDA New York Times, February 2007
Broken Rx&D Promises: Drug firms' research spending falls short Canwest News, June 2006
Increasing Drug Costs: Are we getting good value? July 2006
Financial Ties to Industry Cloud Major Depression Study Wall Street Journal, June 2006
Patients living in deprived areas were 21% more likely to be precribed sedatives Sunday Times, July 2006
Drug errors injure more than 1.5 million Americans Boston Globe, June 2006
Risks and benefits of the profit motive
in the pharmaceutical industry Agora, 2006
Drug firms a danger to health: new report Guardian, June 26, 2006
Don't Swallow Rx&D's Poison Pill
Canadian Health Coalition presentation on Ontario's Bill 102
Pill Pushers: How the drug industry abandoned science for salesmanship Forbes Magazine, May 2006
Pharmaceutical advertisements often false, misleading: report NJPIRG Law and Policy Centre, May 2006
Marching to Different Drummers: Health Advocacy Groups in
Canada and Funding from the Pharmaceutical Industry Women and Health Protection, Jan. 2005
Pharmaceuticals for healthy people: U.S. selling to the worried well Le Monde Diplomatique, March 2006
The Real Story Behind Big Pharma's R&D Spending in Canada BMJ, Sept. 2, 2005
The Real Story Behind Big Pharma's R&D Spending in Canada CGPA, 2005
CHSPR Health Policy Conference: Towards a National Pharmaceutical Strategy 2006
Vanessa's Story
CLICK HERE TO ENTER
Vioxx ads topped $500M ...This is patient education? Today's Senior's Network, 2005
Why Most Published Research Findings Are False PLoS, August 2005
VIOXX disaster exposes the dark downside of corporate rule May 2005
Health Minister attacks makers of VIOXX Globe and Mail, Feb. 25, 2006
CBC Radio Documentary: Prescribed to Death CBC, 2005
VIOXX and Drug Safety Meltdown U.S. Senate Testimony of David J. Graham, Nov. 2004
Health Canada fails miserably at protecting the public from unsafe drugs Jan. 4, 2005
UK to publish adverse drug reaction data Jan. 17, 2005
No more delay: Health Canada must stand on guard for us! Dec. 23, 2004
Health Canada wins 4th Annual "Code of Silence Award" May 9, 2004
Big Pharma: Paving The Streets of Hell in Gold Gary W. Lawson, PhD, DPA, 2005
BOOK REVIEWS:
THE TRUTH ABOUT DRUG COMPANIES
Is there a pill for greed? Globe and Mail Book Review Sept. 11, 2004
The truth about drug companies New York Times Book Review July 15, 2004
Overdo$ed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine
British Medical Journal Book Review Sept. 25, 2004
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors Statement on Clinical Drug Trial Registration 2004
CBC special: How Canada tracks dangerous drugs CBC, February 2004
CBC database on Adverse Drug Reactions CBC, February 2004
Health Canada data bank for drug reactions flawed CBC, February 2004
Your Doctor's Drug Problem New York Times, Nov. 2003
Scientists want scientific papers freely available USA Today / August 2004
Which Trend is Unsustainable? Français CHC, 2004
Making a Killing:
The Great Health Grab
New Internationalist, Nov. 2003 (Issue #362)
Report Exonerates Dr. Nancy Olivieri CMAJ, Nov. 10, 2001
Exposé: High Anxiety Globe and Mail, Sept. 2003
Whither Seniors' Pharmacare: Lessons from (and for) Canada Health Affairs, Vol.2, No.3, 2003
High Drug Costs Not Due to Patent Laws: Health Minister Ottawa Citizen, Feb. 2003
Papers Indicate Bayer Knew of Dangers of Cholesterol Drug Baycol New York Times, Feb. 2003
Romanow Report: A Stab at Drug Reform Toronto Star, January 2003
Prescription drugs: Necessary health component or added frill? CHC Medicare Lobby, Dec. 2002
Pfizer Fined $49 Million For Defrauding Medicaid Globe and Mail, Oct. 2002
Drug Firms Compromise Research: Ethicist Says (Abstract) September 2002
Drug Firms Accused of Hurting Health Care Ottawa Citizen, Sept. 2002
Profiting from Pain: Where Prescription Drug Dollars Go Families USA, July 2002
Drug Companies Send Doctors on Exotic Vacations CTV News, May 2002
America's other drug problem Public Citizen, 2002
Patent laws must be scrapped Green Shield, May 2002
Doctor's Accept Money To Listen to Drug Dealers BMJ, May 2002
Drug Companies Maintain "Astounding" Profits BMJ, May 2002
Drug Ads Can Persuade People They're Sick, Research Shows Barbara Mintz, May 2002
Too much medicine? BMJ, April 2002
Drug Scandal: Scientists take cash for scientific papers ghostwritten by drug companies Feb. 2002
Just How Tainted Has Medicine Become? Lancet, April 2002
Influence of Direct to Consumer Drug Advertising Primary Care, February 2002
A National Pharmacare Plan: Combining Efficiency and Equity Dr. Joel Lexchin, March 2002
Dancing with the porcupine: Rules for governing the University-Industry relationship CMAJ, Sept. 2001
Off the Charts: Pay, Profits and Spending by Drug Companies Families USA, July 2001
CHC presentations on legislation to extend drug patent monopolies (Bill S-17) May 2001
Prescription for Profit: Big Pharma's hold on our healthsystem Washington Post, June 2001
Big Pharma: Mergers, Drug Costs and Health Care Provider Staffing Ratios IHSEP, May 2001
The Nursing Shortage and The Drug Connection Revolution, May 2001
Is Academic Medicine for Sale? NEJM, May 2000
A Prescription For Plunder: The Multinational Drug Monopoly
CHC, 1998
On Feeding Sharks: Patent Protection, Compulsory Licensing & Int'l Trade Law
March 1997
Need Not Greed: CHC Brief to Parliament on C-91
March 1997
|
