Blacked-out information reveals secret world of drug prices (Canada News)

[Sunlei]

please NOTE- This is Canada, about what Canada does for Medicine in their country.

The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB), the federal agency meant to ensure the Canadian price of new drugs is no higher than the average of seven comparator countries, has been locked in a long legal battle with Alexion over the price of Soliris.

This week, the PMPRB finally issued its decision, ruling that the Canadian price of the drug is "excessive." It ordered Alexion to lower the price and repay "excess revenues" — an amount not yet determined that could range between $5 million and $91 million.

She said a group of provinces working together also tried to negotiate a lower cost for Soliris "but ended negotiations with the company in February 2016." The unredacted numbers also reveal millions of dollars in rebates that Alexion paid to the provinces and to a private pharmacy and wholesaler.

Matthew Herder, a health law policy researcher at Dalhousie University in Halifax, says a big problem with the lack of transparency on prices is that other jurisdictions, even other provinces, lack information that might help them negotiate the same price.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/second-opinion170930-1.4313678