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This annual report provides patients with some of
the information they need to determine whether the time they wait
for access to new medicines in Canada is unnecessarily long, and
whether publicly funded and managed drug insurance programs
provide adequate benefits and choice for patients. We hope that
this report will encourage policy makers to consider policy
alternatives that empower consumers with greater choice. This
report focuses on new patented medicines because this class of
drugs is uniquely affected by public policies that delay access
for patients. Because government approval of generic drugs is
based on the assumption that generics are copies of new drugs
that have previously been approved, there is no substantive delay
(observed or expected) before the public has access to generic
products; consequently, this class of drugs is not studied in
this report.
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