Canadian government policies often deprive citizens of access to new medicines

Having endured lengthy waits for the federal government to approve new prescription medicines, Canadian patients all too often discover that their provincial drug plans will not pay for these new therapies, according to a new, peer-reviewed study from independent research organization the Fraser Institute.

The free market think-tank says that Canada's drug approval process involves two separate stages: First, Health Canada ' the regulatory agency - must certify a drug is safe and effective for public use, then provincial governments must decide if the drug will be covered by public health plans. This combination of federal and provincial decision-making creates delays or, more often, results in new drugs being unavailable to some patients.