Canadian Patent Act Report "A Whitewash"

Interference by Canada's federal Industry Minister John Manley inparliament's examination of the Bill C-91 Patent Act amendments resulted in a final report (Marketletter May 5) which would have no impact on drug prices in Canada, reports The Montreal Gazette.

It says that the panel's final meeting in April, days before the general election campaign began, had considered 18 draft recommendations including: - a detailed report from the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board on its method of setting drug price limits; - a call to ask the World Trade Organization to re-evaluate 20-year patents for new drugs; - an amendment allowing generics firms to copy brand-name drugs' size, shape and colour; and - a repeal of the Notice of Compliance regulations, which govern the procedure under which a generic company can apply to manufacture a patent-expired drug.

However, the final report included none of the first three recommendations, and on the Notice of Compliance rules, it simply required the government to "revisit" them, rather than calling for immediate repeal, says the report.