HALIFAX - Nova Scotia will have consultations to grapple with the ballooning cost of prescription drugs covered under its pharmacare programs, the province's health minister announced Monday.
Maureen MacDonald said she wants to gather the input to help lower costs, assess drug use and the efficacy of the drugs being bought.
MacDonald said drug costs are expected to grow by seven per cent in the next year -- to more than $300 million --and have almost doubled in the past eight years.
"As a province we simply cannot continue on this path," she told a news conference.
Talks in the coming weeks will include pharmacists, drug manufacturers, medical staff and consumer groups such as seniors' organizations.
Some of the measures the government is considering include setting prices for generic drugs, limiting pharmacy rebates, setting rules around price increases and defining the prices paid to pharmacies for drugs.
MacDonald said that as an interim measure, the government is issuing a tender call to manufacturers of the generic version of Lipitor, a medication used to treat high cholesterol.
The request for proposals asks for the drug to be supplied at 35 per cent of the brand name cost.
"The goal is to get a better price on this one drug for Nova Scotians eligible through pharmacare and better value for taxpayers while taking time to get input on the province's plan," she said.
Bernie LaRusic, chairman of a coalition of Nova Scotia seniors' organizations, welcomed the announcement.
"The impact of increased costs to the pharmacare programs must be continually monitored to ensure it remains affordable and in place," he said in a statement.
Last year, the government provided drug coverage help for more than 200,000 people, funded more than 6,000 drugs and helped pay for more than five million prescriptions at a cost of $285 million.
Conservative health critic Chris D'Entremont said he was encouraged by the government's announcement but added that steps were needed to ensure that rural pharmacies are protected.
D'Entremont said limiting the rebates drug manufacturers can give to pharmacies, for instance, could deal a blow to smaller pharmacies.
"If not implemented right, the end result could be rural pharmacies having to shut their doors," he said in a statement.
"A rural pharmacy generally deals in lesser volumes, so a cap on rebates could significantly affect their bottom line."
Liberal health critic Diana Whalen said the NDP government is missing an opportunity to direct generic drug savings into Lucentis, a drug used to treat people suffering from age-related vision loss.
She said the initial cost of the drug is only $5 million and government would recoup half of that investment in the first year through direct savings to the health-care system.
She said Nova Scotia remains the only province that does not cover Lucentis for patients.
