Representatives from the Association of Councils of Physicians, Dentists and Pharmacists of Quebec (ACMDPQ) threw the stone into the pond during their visit to the parliamentary committee on Thursday.
Towards the end of his presentation, the President of the Association, Dr. Martin Arata that Section 336 of Bill 15 would change access to medicines and that this would result in a patient being unable to access treatment that he was not receiving therapeutic value authorized by [l’Institut national d’excellence en santé et services sociaux].
He added that if this provision were currently in effect, many patients would not have access to pediatric chemotherapy and rare disease treatments, he cited as an example. dr Arata estimated that in the past two years at CHU de Québec alone, more than forty patients with cancer or childhood illnesses have not had access to their medicines.
Patients could no longer access a treatment that had not received therapeutic value approved by [l’Institut national d’excellence en santé et services sociaux]according to the Association of Councils of Physicians, Dentists and Pharmacists of Quebec.
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In his reaction to the presentation and questioning of the members of the ACMDPQ, Health Minister Christian Dubé did not address the issue. Rather, he challenged the speakers on the role of doctors, work organization and interdisciplinarity.
Moments later, Dr. Jean Beaubien, speaking with Quebec MP Vincent Marissal, said he had just emailed colleagues – while the commission was behind schedule – to approve drugs for a patient with lymphoma.
The anesthetist and Vice President of the ACMDPQ explained that there was a recommendation for this drug for this indication in 2021, and INESSS refused treatment. Since that time there is new literature and there is a hint or a way to give it.
If, in current practice, the use of a drug has not been recommended by INESSS, but new favorable scientific literature has come to the attention of a hospital’s pharmacological committee, this committee may decide to proceed with the treatment of the patient.
With the addition of a sentence in Section 336 of the bill aimed at making the health and welfare system more efficient, everything changes, according to the association.
In the recast of the law we seem to want to keep the leeway given to doctors and pharmacists in establishments, except that we can read in Article 336 that:
The Committee cannot give its approval if the National Institute of Excellence in Health and Social Services, in an opinion to the Minister, has refused to recognize the medicinal product’s therapeutic value for the therapeutic indication which is the subject of the application for approval.” Approval.
It is precisely this new passage that we want to see disappear, confirmed Dr. Beaubien in an email to The Canadian Press.
For example, if INESSS published an opinion in 2020 and new scientific literature now supports the administration of the drug, the committee cannot grant approval, he interprets.
For him and his colleagues, this is a loss of flexibility as the scientific literature improves daily while recommendations from INESSS or Health Canada take a long time to process.
according to dr Beaubien, this reality is particularly evident in oncology, where research is developing rapidly and the methods of treating cancer are becoming increasingly personalized.
The Canadian press tried to get the position of the Association of Pharmacists of Quebec Health Institutions (APES), which is directly affected by this change. In a written response, the association said it preferred to save its comments for its hearing before parliamentarians scheduled for May 23.