Canada’s Inadequate Drug Patent Protection?

The Canadian Intellectual Property Council is urging Canada to toughen its patent protection for drug makers if it does not want to lose out on lucrative pharmaceutical investment and jobs to the U.S. and Europe.  According to its recent report, the life of a patent in Canada, once the drug is on the market, is significantly shorter than in any other G7 country.  The CIPC urges Ottawa to give patented drug makers up to five years of “restored” patent life to offset regulatory delays, exclusive use of drug trial data for an additional two years and legal tools to fight patent challenges launched by generic manufacturers.

Strengthening patent protection would not be without its problems too.  New drug prices will go up for consumers, insurers and provincial health plans.  The Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association (CGPA) claims that if the patent changes sought by the industry are realized, it would cost Canadians up to $3billion a year in higher drug costs. Canada’s generic drug industry, along with several provincial governments, would also not see such legislation enacted without a fight.

But are drug regulations and innovation necessarily mutually exclusive?  Ariel Katz, Associate Professor at University of Toronto would claim that they are not.   In fact, he argues that a regulatory framework is not only not solely a burden on the industry, but that it also provides them a valuable service.  His full article can be accessed here.