Posted by Larry Hoover on April 21, 2005, at 17:26:36
In reply to far fewer drugs being released in canada, posted by iforgotmypassword on April 21, 2005, at 15:37:08
> is this due to poor relations between the US and Canada over pharmaceutical sales (like the internet pharmacy thing)? neither geodon nor abilify are available here, and i can't see any sign of them ever becoming available. i think strattera made it across just recently, though. it doesnt appear that any european drugs are making it to canada, either.
It has nothing to do with trade relations, in any sense of the concept.
The only thing that determines if a drug is released for sale in Canada is approval by the regulatory arm of Health Canada, the Therapeutic Products Directorate. That department receives applications from pharmaceutical companies, and evidence from clinical trials, and then the government geeks decide if the drug is safe and effective, or not.
It currently takes 18 to 30 months for an application to make its way through the system.
It has been proposed that having every separate government doing this kind of oversight is a collosal waste of effort. Surely, the same evidence is being used for applications in Europe, North America, Asia, etc......
So, there is currently a strong international effort to come up with a centralized approval and monitoring system.....maybe under the World Health Organization, or a completely new agency.
I've heard rumours that this centralized process might exist within a few year's time, and then we'll all be seeing the same drugs at the same time.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:487534
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050418/msgs/487577.html