this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2025
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118
Pharma companies urge Trump administration to target Canadian drug pricing (www.hilltimes.com)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
23 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

A vial of insulin costs far more in the U.S. than it does in Canada.

Drug prices are set by Canada’s Patented Medicine Prices Review Board which sets price caps by comparing drug prices across a group of 11 countries. The US used to be included in the formula, but was removed from the group in 2022 — because US drug prices are an insane global outlier.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patented_Medicine_Prices_Review_Board

A group of Pharma companies including Pfizer and Merck have asked the Trump administration to put pressure on Canada. They are accusing the country of unfair trade practices.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

Every supplier that's lobbying for this should go on a list for extra attention during the price negotiations, and really put the screws to them.

Fucking scumbags.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

Go EFF yourselves! Big Pharma🖕 If the US government wants to destroy itself, keep us out of it!

[–] [email protected] 56 points 2 days ago

America continues to try and drag down the rest of the world into the dirt with them, rather then fixing themselves and actually improving their country.

[–] [email protected] 46 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Why does another country with a private health care system even have a say in Canada's mostly socialized healthcare? Are they worried if they make it the 51st state, the other 50 will demand healthcare?

Pay very close attention to how politicians respond to these threats and vote accordingly.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Because a bunch of Americans get their drugs from Canada (mail order or driving across the border if you're close), and it really pisses off the pharma companies that they're losing that money.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 days ago

And it was a Republican idea to let Americans buy from Canada.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Loosing higher profit yes but they don’t loose to a competitor it’s most likely their own medication with their own supply chain only sold at a lower price in Canada. One thing we can be sure is that the Canadian pricing doesn’t involve loosing money.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 days ago

You don't get how CEOs think - if you made huge amounts of money but felt entitled to GIGANTIC amounts of money, then you lost imaginary money and need to be compensated.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

This will be a pre-arranged opportunity for Polievre to play the strong man and "fight back" for the cameras. Expect sudden media access while he performs.

Trump doesn't give a fuck about the drug pricing, it's a strawman. He knows he's going to get told to fuck off, and if it's important to him, it'll be revisited after the election.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

World domination is why it matter. The world is at war.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

He tried shit here in Australia with our generic medicine. Even our right wing told him to get fucked

I hope you guys end up with the same result

[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

A vial of insulin costs far more in the U.S. than it does in Canada.

Drug prices are set by Canada’s Patented Medicine Prices Review Board which sets price caps by comparing drug prices across a group of 11 countries. The U.S. used to be included in the formula, but was removed from the group in 2022 — because U.S. drug prices are an insane global outlier.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patented_Medicine_Prices_Review_Board

A group of Pharma companies including Pfizer and Merck have asked the Trump administration to put pressure on Canada. They are accusing the country of unfair trade practices.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Big pharma wants to play? Fine. Let's just invalidate all their patents, spin up a crown corp to manufacturer generic versions, and export globally at actually fair prices.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

We don't have the manufacturing resources to replace all foreign suppliers overnight. Going pirate would require that all the manufacturing facilities be built, secretly, before hand because once we start we'll be cut off.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If wikipedia is to be believed, we might not be as far off as you'd think. One third of our pharmaceutical consumption is already domestically supplied, and the amount we export amounts to about 40% of our consumption. Put the two together, and suddenly there's 70% of our needs already met. Imports from non-us suppliers should be able to fill the gap while domestic production is ramped up.

Now obviously reality is going to be far more complex than this napkin math, but I'm just pointing out that our domestic production is not starting from zero, and is already at the scale where supplying our own relatively small market is not out of the question.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago

The real problem is on a per-drug basis. Canada has the ability to make 70% of its medicine on average. But doubtlessly it's making 500% of its own needs for some medications and 0% for others. Cut that supply off overnight, and a lot of people unlucky enough to be reliant on the 0% ones are going to die.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's not just building the factories. The FDA has to minutely inspect the factory and it's procedures, and give it's approval before they can sell anything made there. It takes time for that to happen, especially with the RIFs they're pushing through (which is relevant because they also re-inspect the factories every ... ?5? years and they're having problems keeping up with the current batch of factories).

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Health Canada, not FDA. And I'm not 100% sure if it's Health Canada that deals with those inspections or provincial authorities.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Sorry, I mis-read the original comment and thought they were telling about building additional pharmaceutical plants in the States.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Here here

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

How is the Brazilian experience going in this line of idea?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Don't know, don't care. Canada and Brazil are in two very different places economically.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I'm not terribly familiar with Brazil's politics or economics, but I'd wager they're implying the hazards of becoming a direct, unambiguous threat to (external/private) capitalism. Canada's not too big to become a banana republic, if enough forces get behind manufacturing consent for ~~war~~ special military operations.