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We have never in Canada allowed patents on methods of medical treatment. Our data protection periods for pharmaceutical inventions are far too short. We have a patent office that by its own whim prevents patents from being issued on diagnostic methods, contrary to law and the needs of patients. We had other roadblocks, too, like the “promise doctrine” in patent law, a quirk of patent interpretation that caused many drug patents to be invalidated in Canada — and only in Canada. That doctrine, thankfully, the courts finally corrected, though only after long government neglect. And we have Health Canada, responsible for approving new therapies and devices, by all appearances inflexible, risk-averse, slow, and meddling. It can’t even get COVID tests out to us.
And we wonder why pharmaceutical companies don’t invest here?
Pharmaceuticals have for decades delivered enormous gains in health along with massive cost savings for health care. Not to invest in their continued development, even if only by paying fair prices, is blatantly shortsighted. Controlling pharmaceuticals’ prices and limiting their availability, as we do in Canada, may seem to be penny-wise but it is manifestly pound-foolish. This foolishness stems from our single-payer system, which is obsessed with cost, not value, and because of budgeting silos that ensure that actual gains in health and life are not adequately accounted for — gains which are the whole point of health care.
