{"id":62002,"date":"2015-09-25T21:28:35","date_gmt":"2015-09-25T13:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=62002"},"modified":"2016-05-31T10:22:21","modified_gmt":"2016-05-31T14:22:21","slug":"u-s-drug-company-challenges-ottawas-ability-to-control-patent-drug-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/09\/25\/u-s-drug-company-challenges-ottawas-ability-to-control-patent-drug-prices\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. drug company challenges Ottawa\u2019s ability to control patent drug prices"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Shutterstock<\/a>
(Shutterstock image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MONTREAL \u2013 Canada\u2019s ability to control the price of patented drug prices could be at risk after a U.S. company challenged the constitutionality of the federal regulator\u2019s ability to order a price cut for a costly treatment for a rare genetic condition.<\/p>\n

Alexion Pharmaceuticals has filed a lawsuit in Federal Court against Canada\u2019s Patented Medicine Prices Review Board that determined that the price of Soliris, which has been dubbed the world’s costliest drug, is \u201cexcessive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company has challenged the federal board\u2019s authority to order a reduction to prices, saying that it intrudes on provincial jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

The drug\u2019s reported price is between $500,000 and $700,000 annually per patient.<\/p>\n

University of Ottawa health law professor Amir Attaran said the impact of the lawsuit goes beyond one drug.<\/p>\n

If Alexion is successful, it could put a stop to the federal government\u2019s ability to control the cost of all patented drugs.<\/p>\n

Alexion said in its statement of claim that the price of Soliris has not increased since being introduced to Canada in 2009, nor decreased in other countries.<\/p>\n

The company said the board\u2019s allegations of excessive pricing between 2012 and 2014 are the result of the fluctuations in the value of the Canadian dollar.<\/p>\n

The drug generated US$2.2 billion of revenues last year, up 44 per cent from 2013.<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for the board said it couldn’t comment on the suit because it is before the court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2013 Canada\u2019s ability to control the price of patented drug prices could be at risk after a U.S. company …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":55436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-62002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-original","mauthors-ross-marowits","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}