Canadian cancer groups see urgent need for national catastrophic cancer drug plan

In light of Canada's extremely low ranking in a UK study of new drug uptake around the world, the Cancer Advocacy Coalition of Canada, Canadian Cancer Society and Canadian Cancer Action Network are calling on the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Ministers of Health to urgently pursue the creation of a national catastrophic drug plan for cancer patients.

In a recently-released report comparing international usage of prescription drugs, Canada ranks 13 among 14 countries for cancer drugs launched within the last five years. The study, conducted for the UK Secretary of State for Health (The Pharma Letter July 28), compared 14 countries for their usage of 14 categories of prescription drugs to determine whether the UK is adequately providing for the health needs of its citizens. In Canada, low usage of newer cancer drugs means that patients might bounce from one outdated treatment to another trying to achieve results that the unavailable drug would have provided.

In the oncology category of the newly-released report, 'Extent and Causes of International Variations in Drug Usage,' the UK ranked 12th, prompting its government to announce a £50 million ($78 million) fund to start covering cancer drugs that were not yet approved by the country's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). At the other end of the spectrum, France, Austria and the USA took the top ranking spots for use of newer cancer drugs, whereas New Zealand had the poorest showing after Canada.