E-drug: USA Drug Pricing Comparison (cont)
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My apologies to list readers. I realized after I had sent the message
that part, if not all, of the seemingly too low prices for Canadian drugs
was conversion from $ Canadian to $ US! Our exchange rate is only
about $.70 per US dollar. Virtually all the economics of health care are
handled provincially. With drugs, a federal bureau licenses drugs but
each province decides whether to reimburse for it and what the unit
cost will be - in negotiation with the industry. That process is
confidential within each provincial drug program branch.
Anne Holbrook
Centre for Evaluation of Medicines
St Joseph's Hospital,
Associate Professor, Dept. Medicine
McMaster University. Hamilton, ON, Canada
Phone 905-522-1155 ext 5269. FAX 905-521-6136
e-mail: holbrook@mcmaster.ca
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