On June 29th, 2021 Health Canada announced another delay in the implementation of the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board’s (PMPRB’s) amended Patented Medicines Regulations. The proposed changes are scheduled to now come into force on January 1, 2022.
The reasons Health Canada for another delay are that there is need for additional time for the industry to prepare and implement the changes and the issues with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This is the third delay in implementation of the Patent Medicines Regulations and Final Guidelines and the notice comes just a few days before the anticipated implementation date, similar to what occurred with a December 29, 2020 announcement of the delaying of the January 1, 2021 implementation date.
There was no mention or official response so far regarding how PMPRB had misrepresented indicated that patient organizations were providing misinformation and did not acknowledge that patient organizations were upset over this.
See related article:
Ottawa delays drug-pricing changes a third time, citing COVID-19 pandemic