Today, the Competition Bureau and Health Canada's Health Products and Food Branch (HPFB) issued a joint notice to stakeholders highlighting the importance of their continued collaboration to support Canadians' access to safe, effective and affordable medicines.
Pharmaceuticals and biologics play a key role in the Canadian health care system. The Bureau's collaboration with the HPFB is crucial to its efforts to maintain competition and innovation for these drugs - which are essential to many Canadians.
The Bureau and HPFB are building on their history of collaboration by committing to further cooperation on Bureau-led enforcement actions and exchanging information on issues of mutual importance - such as refusals to supply samples of brand name drugs to generic manufacturers.
Furthermore, the Bureau will continue to report to the HPFB when aspects of the regulatory framework for pharmaceuticals may impact competition. In turn, HPFB will provide relevant feedback to the Bureau on competition-related issues that affect Canadian's access to medicines.
