Conférence des premiers ministres de l’Ouest, 2006

Gimli – May 30, 2006 -- Western Premiers discussed the current processes in place for the review, listing and purchase of oncology (cancer) drugs, which often carry very high costs. They agreed that a timely, evidence-based and streamlined process for review and determination of oncology drug efficacy is important to ensure high quality patient care. 

Western Premiers noted that there currently is no common process in place for reviewing oncology drugs and providing recommendations to governments regarding the listings of drugs covered, and that there is no system in place for bulk purchasing of oncology drugs.

The Common Drug Review (CDR) process was established in 2003 in response to direction from First Ministers and Ministers of Health as a single process for reviewing new drugs and providing formulary listing recommendations to participating publicly-funded federal, provincial and territorial (F/P/T) drug benefits plans, but that process does not extend to the review of oncology drugs.  Western Premiers noted that this results in variations among jurisdictions with respect to issues such as the process for making formulary product listing decisions, eligibility criteria, and costs for cancer drugs.

Premiers discussed the potential benefits of expedited, streamlined processes to review and list oncology drugs. They directed their Ministers of Health to report on the feasibility of options for undertaking common oncology drug review and purchasing processes for the consideration of the Council of the Federation at their July 2006 meeting.

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Contact Information:

Jonathan Hildebrand
Director of Cabinet Communications
Province of Manitoba
204-945-1494