Woman can now buy cancer drug at cost

From the Halifax Chronicle Herald:
A Guysborough County woman will now be able to buy Avastin at cost from an Antigonish hospital, saving about $400 per dose compared to what she originally paid for the cancer drug.

She and her husband hope others will get the same benefits and that Nova Scotia will eventually pay for the pricey treatment.

Marlene George, 47, was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer a year ago and has been taking Avastin and having chemotherapy for 10 months.

Her husband Blair George said that in getting the drug at cost they’ve won a battle but not the war.

"We’re not special people here," he said Friday. "This has got to be something for everybody for the short term, and in the long term, my fight is for the government to pay for it."

The late Jim Connors, a lawyer, former Dartmouth city councillor and cancer patient, led a strong lobby urging the province to fund the colorectal cancer treatment which he could afford but others could not. ...more

MD: ‘So far, so good’ on Pharmacare

From the Halifax Chronicle Herald:
A Halifax doctor says the province’s month-old family Pharmacare program has helped some of her patients get the drugs they need.

"So far, so good," rheumatologist Dr. Dianne Mosher said Wednesday.

Nova Scotia has the highest prevalence of arthritis in Canada.

Earlier this year, Arthritis Consumer Experts, a national education organization for people with the inflammatory joint disease, gave the province a C-minus grade for access to medically necessary treatments.

But the family drug program, which began March 1, is meant to help the 30 per cent of Nova Scotians who have no private drug insurance afford the medications they need. ...more

Take a clean pill

From the Halifax Chronicle Herald:
BRENT FAY has helped make chocolate trays and winter tires, and all that experience came in to play developing a brand new product that prevents potentially deadly reactions in people who are taking medicine.

Mr. Fay and his partner Michael Jarvis are making the world’s first self-cleaning pill dispensing system, and they’re doing it out of their machine shop in Chester.

It’s been tested by the National Research Council, where scientists have proven it is a drastic improvement over the traditional plastic trays pharmacists use to dispense pills.

The two men recently incorporated their business under the name Clean Count Inc. and are awaiting the patent for their system. ...more

N.S. premier encourages residents to enrol in new prescription drug plan

From the Amherst (NS) Daily News:
Nova Scotians living without prescription drug coverage are being encouraged to enrol in a provincial plan at no cost.

Rodney MacDonald launched the family pharmacare program Monday.

Individuals and their families are invited to enrol in the universal drug plan with no premiums or fees.

The program will cap annual out-of-pocket costs for eligible drugs at a percentage of a family’s income.

For example, a family of four with combined income of $25,000 and annual drug costs of $1,000, will only have to pay $440 through family pharmacare coverage. ...more

Lessons to be learned from methadone controversy, says pharmacist

From the Cape Breton (NS) Post:
It’s relatively uncommon for a complaint filed to the professional body governing Nova Scotia pharmacists to proceed to the hearing stage, its registrar said Tuesday.

Susan Wedlake, registrar with the College of Pharmacists, was commenting on a recent settlement worked out between the college and Glace Bay pharmacists Donald and David Ferguson of Ferguson’s Pharmacy in Glace Bay.

An investigation into how the pharmacy dispenses methadone resulted after Ron Whalen of Glace Bay filed a complaint about the care his son, Robert, received there on the day he died.

Wedlake noted the college can follow different processes in response to a complaint — they can be dismissed, resolved informally, or can go on to investigations committee or to hearing committee.

“(Whalen’s complaint) went all the way through the process . . . it’s not common that complaints end up at the hearings level,” Wedlake said. ...more

Overdose victim’s dad calls for public inquiry

From the Halifax (NS) Chronicle Herald:
Two Glace Bay pharmacists will lose their licences for a week after an investigation found they dispensed methadone improperly.

One man died of an overdose of the drug.

And at least three other patients became ill after taking prescribed methadone prepared at Ferguson’s Pharmacy Ltd. in 2005.

The Nova Scotia College of Pharmacists launched a probe of David and Donald Ferguson after Ron Whalen filed a complaint.

Mr. Whalen’s son, Robert Whalen, 23, died in 2005 of a methadone overdose.

"I’m not very happy at all," Mr. Whalen of Glace Bay said Tuesday.

"The two of them lose their licence for a week and they don’t even have to close down the pharmacy. One guy can go to Florida and the other guy can run the pharmacy for a week and then vice versa." ...more

Atlantic Canadians sue makers of OxyContin

From CTV News:
More Canadians who became addicted to OxyContin are taking the maker of the painkiller to court claiming the company undersold its addictive side effects.

A class-action lawsuit, claiming Purdue Pharma L.P. knew of OxyContin's addictiveness, is to be launched in Nova Scotia Supreme Court next week.

"I'd like to see the people that made it and made money off of it be held accountable for it," George Bellefontaine told CTV Newsnet. "Why should they get rich off of hurting people?"

Bellefontaine, who is joining the suit, said he became addicted to the drug when it was prescribed to him after a car accident four years ago. ...more

N.S. approves funding for two more cancer drugs

From CTV News:
Nova Scotia will fund two additional cancer drugs - but Avastin is not one of them.

Health Minister Chris D'Entremont says Oxaliplatin, a drug that treats colorectal cancer, and Mab Campath, a drug that treats chronic lymphocytic leukemia have been added to the list.

The decision is based on recommendations by the province's Cancer Systemic Therapy Policy Committee, which includes oncologists, pharmacists and cancer survivors.

The committee feels Oxaliplatin can treat colorectal patients after surgery and prevent the disease from progressing. ...more

Pharmacist from Dal part of intensive drug study

From the Halifax Chronicle Herald:
A Dalhousie University pharmacist will be part of the first extensive study of whether public and private drug policies across Canada and internationally help or harm patients.

Neil MacKinnon, associate director of research at Dal’s college of pharmacy, is one of 13 people worldwide selected as 2007 Harkness Fellows.

The fellowship, administered by the United States’ Commonwealth Fund and the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, will allow him to work with experts from around the world to learn more about drug policy in other countries.

The first meeting of the group is in New York in September.

The process of determining what drugs are safe and effective and which of those will be covered by public and private insurers varies by country and province, said Mr. MacKinnon, a Bridgewater native. ...more

9 pharmacists in N.S. earn national praise

From the Halifax Chronicle Herald:
Nine Nova Scotia pharmacists have been recognized for their contributions to the profession in Canada in the past century.

They are among 100 Canadians singled out by the Canadian Pharmacists Association in its 100th year. ...more

N.S. unveils cancer plan

From the Calgary Sun:
Nova Scotia became the first province yesterday to unveil plans for a publicly funded vaccine to protect young girls from the human papilloma virus -- the leading cause of cervical cancer.

The announcement came as obstetricians and gynecologists from across Canada warned more young women will die from the disease unless others act quickly.

The federal budget included $300 million for such programs.

Beginning this fall, some 6,000 Nova Scotian girls in Grade 7 will be given the option of receiving three doses of Gardasil. ...more

Cancer drug Avastin battleground in debate over fairness versus costs

I suspect that someone is eventually going to take this type of inequality to court as a Charter of Rights challenge. I'd suspect that the court would rule it's a breach of Charter rights, and would that result in a chaotic aftermath in the health care system.

While a ruling like that would appear to be a victory for patients, I think it would financially break the provincial systems, and that would bring in more of a private element into the system. Ironically, this would the opposite result that the plantiff would be looking for.

From the Canadian Press:
Two middle-aged women living on opposite sides of the country, both battling the spread of colorectal cancer, believe a medicine called Avastin separates their fates.

Ruth Tremblay of Vancouver says she's now "cancer free" because the drug is part of her treatment.

Halifax resident Judee Young wonders if her life will be cut short because her provincial government has declared the same medicine, at roughly $35,000 a year, too expensive to provide.

Young, 47, the married mother of an eight-year-old, calls the contrasts "crazy."

"It's a question of whether my health is not as important as someone else's health. I've been a taxpayer for 25 years and the time comes I need help from my government, and I can't get it."

Tremblay, 48, married and living on a yacht with four step children, said she always thought there was an equality of health care in Canada.

"What I've discovered is it's divided down by province on who gets what." ...more

Addiction’s heavy toll

From the Halifax Chronicle Herald:
Using pliers to rip out healthy teeth just to get a narcotics prescription. Twelve-year-olds having sex with men in exchange for narcotics.

"It’s the worst kind of nightmare," said Mike McDonald, who just completed a four-week internship with Indian Brook’s outreach worker. "Our people are in real trouble and the worst part is, the kids are being hit bad." ...more