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Articles on Prescription drugs

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Could universal pharmacare reduce excessive drug price hikes in Canada? Eric Hoskins, former Ontario Minister of Health, will chair a federal government advisory council to implement a national pharmacare plan. Hoskins is pictured here with federal Minister of Health Ginette Petitpas Taylor. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang)

Pharmacare and the chaotic world of Canadian drug prices

The cost of a life-saving drug in Canada is rising by 3,000 per cent. A national pharmacare plan could bring order to this chaotic world of Canadian drug prices.
Health Canada’s intention to increase the fees drug makers pay for the drug approval process threatens to compromise drug safety and the health of the Canadian public. (Shutterstock)

Your prescription drugs are about to become less safe if Health Canada has its way

Health Canada proposes to increase fees to the pharmaceutical industry for prescription drug approval. This will compromise drug safety and is a risk to the health of the Canadian public.
A CVS drugstore in Brooklyn, New York, on Dec. 3, 2017. AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

CVS merger with Aetna: Health care cure or curse?

CVS, which operates nearly 10,000 pharmacies across the country, announced intentions to buy Aetna, the nation’s third-largest provider of health insurance. Here’s how consumers could be affected.
The cells inside this bioreactor are the real pharmaceutical factories. Sanofi Pasteur

Biologics: The pricey drugs transforming medicine

Rather than being designed by chemists, this class of pharmaceuticals is produced by living cells. Here’s where they come from and how they work.
Canada spends more per capita on prescription drugs than most other OECD countries. (Shutterstock)

Why Canada should introduce universal drugs coverage

Canada is the only nation with a broad public health system lacking universal coverage for pharmaceuticals. Despite fears that pharmacare would be too costly, it could end up saving Canadians money.
The rising costs of EpiPens has led to outrage. Rich Pedroncelli/AP

Drug prices: Where do we go after the Election?

The rising cost of drugs is more worrisome to most Americans than problems with Obamacare. Could proposals in California and Ohio help?
Kim Kardashian neglected to mention a morning sickness drug’s side effects when she promoted it, which violated US regulations. AAP/Peter Foley

Drug ads only help Big Pharma’s bottom line, so why are they allowed?

Pharmaceutical companies can use prescription medication ads to mislead an unwitting public for the sake of profits. While Australia prohibits such ads, the laws don’t go far enough.
Off-label use is when an approved medicine is prescribed for a different reason, at a different dose, or in different patient groups than originally intended. Benny Lin/Flickr

Explainer: why are off-label medicines prescribed?

The off-label use of medicines is not illegal and it doesn’t mean regulators have specifically “disapproved” its use. But there are a number of issues to consider before using a medicine off-label.

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