Canadian Trade Boards Call For Drug Patents

The Boards of Trade of Metropolitan Toronto and Metropolitan Montreal, where over 80% of Canadian drug industry jobs are situated, say that while Canada has improved its patent protection for medicines, "it has not attained the international standards established by most of its major competitors in the industrialized world."

For Canada to attract more research and job opportunities, participate more fully in the discovery and development of innovative drug therapies and win international manufacturing contracts, the Boards are calling for: intellectual property protection to be maintained and even reinforced; government continues to support business research programs; top-quality training of researchers and other drug industry workers; and recognition by provincial governments of the trade-offs between medications and health budget savings, and the increased economic activity generated by knowledge-based industries.