Generic drug industry agrees to cut prices in 5-year deal with provinces

Various media outlets interviewed UBC professors after Canada’s generic drug industry agreed to cut prices 25 per cent to 40 per cent for provincial public drug plans.

Steve Morgan, a professor in UBC’s school of population and public health who has studied the merits and disadvantages of universal pharmacare, spoke to CBC and the Globe and Mail. He said the generics drug industry does not want open tendering because it forces them to cut their margins and compete on price.

The Globe and Mail story also quoted Michael Law, a UBC professor who holds a Canada Research Chair in access to medicines. Law said the deal won’t drive down prices as much as tendering would in the long run.