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p30 weekender january 31 1987 prescription piracy a bitter pill by charlotte cave research oriented phar maceutical companies can brush generic firms off their coat tails with the federal gov ernments proposed bill c22 a plan to end prescription piracy and for stouffvilles mcneil pharmaceutical traditional copycat medicines have been a bitter pill for research and development firms to swallow bill c22 is significant for two reasons first it will influ ence the future of canadian medical research second it will affect mcneil phar maceutical and that means tax dollars jobs and commun ity contributions the legislation proposes that pharmaceutical com panies like mcneil be allowed a tenyear period of exclusiv ity to recoup the heavy costs of their research and develop ment in bringing new medi cines to the market since 1969 generic firms have been allowed to copy the inventions of these research- oriented companies and mar ket the copies by paying a nominal four per cent royalty to the originator this has made it increasing ly difficult for innovative firms to viably develop new products as president of mcneil les gagnon explains how it takes a drug company about ten years and 100 million to bring a new product to market at iiect ism markville shopping centre v w7 comf kfwiy 7 ft mccowin rod mirfchim shopping hou department stores mondty thru fridty 10 m to 30 pm gjtuny j jo 9 jo pm reupholster with toromark reupholster with markhams oldest upholstery shop since 1950 selected fabrics 2 pc suite scqci basic style only vvvi your suite will come back like new ask your friends or neighbours how good we are 5 year guarantee on workmanship free 6 monthly payments no extra charge for free estimate call us toromark ii best its a risky business it was only a few years ago mcneil launched what it thought would be a major pro duct only to withdraw it within its first few years of market life because of potential side effects we had done extensive re search and marketing on it comments mr gagnon we thought we had a topnotch product but because we didnt want to take any chances with the publics health we took it off the market it had a profound effect on everyone associated with our company and it was a tough loss to digest financially these are the types of risks we take in our business the current law allows compulsory licensing and vir tually ignores this tremendous investment in developing new medicines we as an industry make by not providing us with any intellectual property pro tection he added any copycat can legally come along and duplicate our for mula and start selling a simi lar product of course their prices can be lower because they dont have the ten years or 100 mil lion to recoup you surely cant survive long in any busi ness if you cant even cover costs canada is the only country in the western world that does not give protection to phar maceutical discoveries and our industry in this country is the only one to go unprotected internationally canada has the reputation of looking the other way in allowing this type of piracy to go on with a history of many ma jor contributions to canadian healthcare the innovative manufacturers cant under stand why they have been singled out as the only indus try to face such unfair patent laws argues mr gagnon were not asking to put the generic companies out of busi ness all were asking for is the same intellectual property protection granted any other industry in canada and the same protection granted the pharmaceutical industry in the rest of the western world we want what every other ori ginator of an invention has in this country and that is a head start in the market to re cover our investment stouffville dr don petrie is sympathetic to mcneils plight we seem to have taken for granted things like the polio vaccine penicillin rabies vaccines and many other fine discoveries weve come a long way in medical research mcneils les gagnon but theres so much more to do in cancer and heart disease and aids research for exam ple we need the research and development that the innova tive firms have brought to this country doug widdifield a local pharmacist sees the issue as plain and simple if we want the research to develop new medications and solutions to our current medic al problems in canada we must be prepared to give these drug manufacturers the room and protection they need to carry on their innovative work there has to be patent protection otherwise there will be no new medicines markham pharmacist bill crothers also feels the innova tive companies should have a few years of patent protection to ensure the survival of re search in canada and to allow for unforeseen delays in bringing the product to market he suggests this protection be from date of market entry and not from dis covery as it is now until recently it was taking the york region board of education kindergarten registrations for september 1987 notices with detailed procedures or individual public schools will be sent home with present pupils parents or guardians who do not receive such notices are requested to contact the school serving their area or the appropriate board office area a east gwillimbury georglna 4764384 8982631 area b newmarket 8955155 7731219 area c aurora king vaughan 7273135 8848131 8894660 area d richmond hill 88444778844486 area e markham thomhill and unlonville 8842096 8875451 area f markham whltchurchstouftvlllo 6407800 1 parentsguardians must be public school supporters 2 to be eligible or admission in september 1 987 children must have been bom on or before december 311 982 verification ol birthdata and record ol immunization on the standard oma record forms available in your doctors office are required application forms for birth certifications are available in the schools 3 if a school receives more registrations than it can accommodate all registrations received before april 1 will be treated equally as far as date of registration is concerned registrations received on or after april 1 will be sequenced and tho date of registrations will be the criteria used to determine which pupils may be required to attend another school unless there are sufficient volunteers to do so charles cooper r a cressman chairman director generic companies seven to nine years to enter the mar ket lately its been closer to four and since the threat of a change in the law there are companies asking to produce drugs that have not yet passed government approval by paying the minimal four per cent royalty the- generics have been allowed to walk away with the lions share without doing anything but copying mr gagnon points out novopharm one generic manufacturer has more prescriptions filled with their product than any other company in canada and is the 15th largest pharmaceutical company with sales in excess of 40 million another generic company apotex has worldwide sales of over 100 million two- thirds of the canadian multi nationals do not have sales this high the generic threat is no longer small business its large enough to erode any in centive to carry on phar maceutical research and de velopment in canada recent government studies estimate the introduction of new pills and vaccines in just six therapeutic categories has saved canadians about 750 million annually in shorter hospital stays reduced surgery faster recoveries and quicker returns to work if canadians want and ex pect business and science to continue this fine work to find medicines for diseases like i bill crothers cancer spinal cord damage arthritis multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy and we know they do then they must allow us the protection and returns to do so states mr gagnon the innovative companies have done a lot but there is so much more to be done the proposed amend ments to extend the patent protection to ten years in this context is hardly going to be a high price to pay the consum er will be protected by a gov ernment prices review board that will ensure prices do not accelerate faster than the rate of inflation and should the legislation be approved we as an indus try are committed to doubling our investment and research as a percentage of our sales over the next ten years this will create many new opportu nities for jobs for canadians