The Cameron Institute
1539 King Street East, Box 28043 N3H 5N4 Cambridge, ON, Canada

The Cameron Institute - the honest broker of the facts - publishes its rebuttal to Report On Business' misleading and misguided November 2016 article on drugs in Canada http://www.cameroninstitute.org//truth-drug-benefit-progr/

In 2017 Alberta will therapeutically substitute proton pump inhibitors putting 20,000 patients at risk; no science to support the move; no savings to be had; simple stupidity http://www.cameroninstitute.org//proton-pump-inhibitors-a/

Revenue generated from Product Listing Agreements in Canada over the past 10 years have not been invested in funding new drugs but fattens government "general revenue"; with no accountability, patients lose again. http://www.cameroninstitute.org//product-listing-agreemen/

Canadians need to talk about their healthcare, about who pays for what, when. Lack of money is not the issue; how that money is spent is the issuewhat public healthcare is covering and not covering. The same dollar amount can be spent quite differently and more effectively. The 1950s first-dollar, single-payor decision shifted the burden from the individual to government, but a lot has changed since the 1950s. Today Medicare is not universal, comprehensive, reasonably access...ible, or portable. With residual constitutional power residing in Ottawa, there is no reason for the fragmentation and inequalities facing Canadians. Sound fiscal policy enables funding at appropriate levels when needed; however, current fiscal policy is not sound. Canada can learn from countries that outperform it in terms of quality, waits, access, outcomes, and value for money. This article provides some fresh thinking about the financing of a system that currently is failing Canadians. http://www.cameroninstitute.org//rethinking-financing-hea/

The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board has seen a turbulent 30-year history, and it’s time for a review of legislation that employs ambiguous terms and standards. We need a new perspective of the health system that does not revolve around drug price and voids the concept that one can easily identify and solve excessive prices. This paper details how the PMPRB works on assumptions that are no longer valid. Based on assumptions explained within, PMPRB cannot meet expectations of Canadians with minor renovation alone, and needs to be reconstructed or replaced. http://www.cameroninstitute.org//guidelines-patented-medi/

In 1990, the government’s Ontario Provincial Inquiry into the Acquisition, Distribution, Dispensing, and Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Medicines in Ontario Inquiry, chaired by Frederick H. Lowy, submitted its report, entitled Prescriptions for Health. Dr. W. Spitzer of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, chaired the Inter-University Working Group, which submitted a paper to the Lowy Commission of Inquiry detailing the group’s views on benefits, risks and costs of prescript...ion drugs and called for a scientific basis for evaluating drug policy options over 25 years ago. The IUWG reported that it was clear that prescription drugs, if prescribed and used properly, can improve health and reduce expenditures on physician and hospital services. The Cameron Institute and its associates have produced a number of studies, reports and papers that show Canada did not get this right. This commentary revisits the recommendations made by the IUWG (bold lettering in the section below) and comparing them with current practice. http://www.cameroninstitute.org//lessons-not-learned-stil/

While provinces are attached to reducing prices of drugs, the driver of cost is utilization. Many Canadians do not have drug insurance benefits and those that do find themselves covering many costs out-of-pocket. We’re seeing a number of patients suffer while misinformation about drug costs spreads, the pharmaceutical industry is vilified and government inaction on the issue continues. A number of studies of Canada’s health systems have recognized the need for national drug benefits and a coherent pharmaceutical care system, and there is a continual push for integrating services including pharmaceuticals. A growing challenge across the country will be to change the system before the high cost of political ineptitude threatens the sustainability of health care. http://www.cameroninstitute.org//30/drug-prices-are-too-h/

Despite the availability of essential medicines in developing countries, one-third of the world’s population does not have access to essential medicines due to barriers including money, power, politics, and ideologies. Market failures and lack of political will to create stable, ethical and law-abiding government administrations that can support infrastructure and resources should carry a significant amount of blame for the lack of access. This document explains the human-made healthcare crisis that can be solved by overcoming underlying legal and regulatory problems. http://www.cameroninstitute.org//rule-of-law-and-state-ca/

THE PATIENT SURVEY SAYS: 95% of Canadians say we should have access to the medicines we need when we need them regardless of income, age or residence http://www.cameroninstitute.org//survey-comprehensive-dru/

Canada is suffering from "mural dyslexia" or the inability to read the writing on the wall: personalized medicine is here to stay and will replace population medicine in our lifetimes, so why not start paying for it now? save lives! do what's is right and best for patients in need.

The Cameron Institute is 7 years old this year! Happy Birthday to us! Your are most welcome to follow us also @CameronInst and http://www.cameroninstitute.org/ Best of health to all.

The Ontario government announced it will spend $20 million for 500 electric car charging stations and provide drivers will free electricity when re-charging but will not reimburse patients for life-saving oral cancer drugs or drugs for rare diseases which patients and their families cannot afford.