opinion: how the canadian government can modernize access to life-saving medications
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the government can quickly and tangibly help people by implementing this policy. it can help patients waiting for a cancer therapy that’s already approved but still out of reach.
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the liberal party made a clear promise: to “significantly reduce wait times for life-saving medications” after health canada approval. that commitment offers hope for the millions of canadians living with cancer, rare diseases, and chronic conditions. the liberals must keep that promise because the current system is not only inefficient, it’s cruel.
the wait time between health canada approval and patients receiving a new life-saving therapy through public plans is at least two years, according to a report by the conference board of canada. that is an unacceptably long delay. and it does not account for years of testing and other processes involved in obtaining approval, a related problem that also needs to be addressed urgently.
every day matters when someone has a lethal disease or suffers from a debilitating condition. this two-year-plus lag is not about ensuring safety—the drugs have already been approved. but thousands of life years are lost due to outdated bureaucracy, fragmented reviews, slow price negotiations, and redundant assessments spread across multiple agencies and provinces.
countries like the united kingdom have streamlined access. most uk patients receive new, approved treatments in under six months, a quarter of the time it takes in canada.
if canada is serious about improving outcomes and saving lives, the liberal government must modernize access to approved treatments for lethal diseases. this streamlined pathway should be grounded in three essential reforms:
- accelerated reviews
health canada, the cda, and the pan-canadian pharmaceutical alliance (pcpa) must stop operating in sequence and conduct reviews in parallel under clear, binding timelines. to bring predictability and accountability to the process, we recommend that all parallel reviews be limited to 60 days. extensions should be difficult to obtain and be restricted to 30 days, including the time it takes to process the application for an extension.
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- early access pathway
to address the needs of patients in urgent need, canada must expand time-limited reimbursement efforts by implementing a national conditional access framework, like the uk’s cancer drugs fund. this would allow promising drugs to be used while full evaluations continue, with real-world evidence collected to guide permanent decisions. this is especially important for patients with lethal diseases, where a delay could equal death.
- coordinated national efforts
canada must use existing digital technologies to establish a drug access navigator, a separate regulatory track for life-saving therapies that’s faster and has dedicated funding, as in the uk. this portal will ensure that patients in all provinces can access the same drug. doctors would access life-saving therapies for their patients without red tape. this digital platform also would eliminate siloed bureaucratic duplication and improve transparency in price negotiations.
reforms like these are already working in peer nations. they reflect what the liberal party promised voters: “maintaining all relevant safety standards, supporting our research community, and delivering lifesaving medicines more quickly.”
the government can quickly and tangibly help people by implementing this policy. it can help patients waiting for a cancer therapy that’s already approved but still out of reach. it can help children with rare diseases and their parents who watch the time tick by while treatments sit in bureaucratic limbo.
the liberals made a promise. the roadmap exists. now it’s time to act—because in the fight for life-saving therapies, delay is not a neutral act. it is a decision with real consequences.
anris kica is co-ceo of the life-saving therapies network (lstn) whose family has been touched by cancer.
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dr. stewart is a professor of medicine at the university of ottawa, a medical oncologist at the ottawa hospital and chairman of lstn.
dr. bradford is a co-founder and co-ceo of lstn, a two-time cancer survivor and caregiver to his wife, who died from cancer.
lstn (www.lifesavingtherapies.com) is a canadian-based, patient-led, not-for-profit advocacy coalition dedicated to accelerating access to better treatments, diagnostics, and care for people with lethal diseases.
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