A technician weighs a chemical while preparing a medication in a pharmacy laboratory in Quebec City.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
Canadian-made medication should get priority in government procurement and during Health Canada reviews, according to manufacturers who are urging members of Parliament to boost domestic pharmaceutical sovereignty.
The House of Commons health committee began hearings Tuesday on how Canada can promote a strong domestic pharmaceutical industry and ensure access to essential medicines and supplies.
The importance of the issue has been heightened over the past year as U.S. President Donald Trump has targeted the pharmaceutical industry by demanding companies move production to the United States, threatening them with tariffs and urging them to lower prices in the U.S. and raise them elsewhere.
Jeff Watson, chief executive officer of generics giant Apotex Inc., said the actions of the Trump administration and other jurisdictions are driving a major shift in how drugs are being made.
“Given those policy incentives being adopted in the U.S. and Europe, and the overreliance on generic pharmaceuticals produced outside of North America, Canada’s pharmaceutical manufacturing sovereignty is at risk,” he said.
Apotex plans $1-billion initial public offering
Apotex, founded in Toronto by Canadian entrepreneur Barry Sherman in 1974, was sold to U.S. private equity firm SK Capital Partners LP in 2022 by Mr. Sherman’s family after the businessman and his wife were killed in 2017. The Globe and Mail reported last month that Apotex’s current owners are planning a $1-billion initial public offering for the company later this year.
Apotex is still Canada’s largest drug manufacturing presence, with more than 4,000 employees across five Canadian facilities, with another four locations in other countries. It said it supplies about a fifth of all generic drugs taken in Canada and exports about half of its production to the U.S.
Mr. Watson said the federal government should give Canadian-manufactured generic drugs priority in procurement as part of its Buy Canadian initiatives. Ottawa is a major buyer of drugs for patients covered by the Department of National Defence, Veterans Affairs, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and First Nations.
Terry Creighton, president of the Canadian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Exporters Alliance, said the members of her association collectively produce more than 30 per cent of all prescriptions dispensed in Canada.
However, domestic production of drugs used to be much higher, she said. Over the past 20 years, Canadians have become more dependent on pharmaceuticals produced in other countries, particularly China and India.
“If Canadians cannot depend on domestic drug production to meet our needs, we are facing a looming national security and public-health crisis,” Ms. Creighton said.
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She also said the Department of National Defence should treat pharmaceutical producers as critical infrastructure when planning for homeland defence.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but access to pharmaceuticals can be weaponized and supply intentionally disrupted as a war measure,” she said.
“In addition to shipping disruptions caused by conflict, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, where ships from India pass, is an immediate cause for vigilance.”
Red tape was also an issue raised by many witnesses at Tuesday’s hearing.
The Globe reported last year that Health Canada was increasingly missing its six-month target for reviewing new generic drug submissions. In perhaps the highest-profile example, generic forms of Ozempic, the bestselling drug in Canada, have been legal since Jan. 5 of this year, but no applications have yet been approved, despite some being filed more than a year ago.
Jim Keon, president of the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association, said the federal government should increase staffing at Health Canada to speed up approvals of generic drugs.
“We’re very concerned about Health Canada,” Mr. Keon testified. “Health Canada lacks resources. They are not able to review and approve medicines in any kind of predictable way. Companies that want to invest in Canada have no idea, right now, when their products are going to be approved.”
The health committee’s study is expected to continue over the coming weeks.