The House of Commons Standing Committee on Health met on March 10, 2026, to study Canada’s pharmaceutical sovereignty. Witnesses included Jeff Watson (President and CEO, Apotex Inc.), Michel Bouvier (Professor, as an individual), Julian M. Somers (Full Professor, as an individual), Jim Keon (President, Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association), Terry Creighton (President, Canadian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Exporters Alliance), and Bettina Hamelin (President and CEO, Innovative Medicines Canada).
Jeff Watson of Apotex emphasized that Canada’s domestic generic manufacturing capacity is a strategic asset, noting Apotex’s five Health Canada- and FDA-approved sites and $900 million in planned R&D and capital spending over five years. He urged the committee to recommend adding generic pharmaceutical manufacturing as a priority sector within the buy Canadian policy, with a dedicated regulatory approval process and procurement preference for Canadian-made generics, warning that U.S. and European incentives are drawing investment away from Canada.
Michel Bouvier, a professor at Université de Montréal, argued that pharmaceutical sovereignty begins with domestic innovation capacity, not just manufacturing. He highlighted the IRIC-IRICoR model as a successful example of university-based drug discovery and commercialization, but noted that the federal Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research program was discontinued in 2018, limiting growth. He recommended reinvesting in existing innovation infrastructure to bridge the “valley of death” between discovery and market, and stressed that Canada would remain dependent on foreign countries in a future health crisis without such support.
Julian Somers, a professor and addiction researcher, testified that Canada’s pharma-first addiction policies have caused harm, driven by undisclosed pharmaceutical funding to researchers and clinicians and by conflicts of interest among public health leaders. He called for mandatory disclosure of pharmaceutical payments and for public funds to prioritize addiction prevention, social reintegration and recovery over dispensing addictive drugs. He also described being ordered by British Columbia government officials to destroy 20 years of research data after delivering a critical briefing, which he said undermined scientific inquiry and sovereignty.
Jim Keon of the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association stated that generics and biosimilars fill 80% of Canadian prescriptions but face barriers including long Health Canada review backlogs, low uptake of complex generics, and patent evergreening by originator companies. He recommended predictable regulatory pathways, sustainable pricing, and supply chain security agreements with trusted partners, and argued that pharmaceutical sovereignty must start with generics and biosimilars.
Terry Creighton of the Canadian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Exporters Alliance warned that domestic production has declined over two decades, creating a national security vulnerability. He proposed a five-point action plan: a priority regulatory pathway for Canadian producers, tax incentives to match foreign offers, treating domestic producers as critical infrastructure in defence planning, Canada-first procurement for public drug plans, and securing trusted international supply chains. He disagreed with the reliance program’s potential to prioritize importers’ submissions over Canadian ones.
Bettina Hamelin of Innovative Medicines Canada highlighted that U.S. most favoured nation pricing is already delaying or halting launches of new medicines in Canada, particularly cancer therapies. She noted that the time from regulatory submission to formulary listing averages three and a half years, and called for modernized, parallel processes to speed access. She recommended clear, predictable policies to attract investment, citing examples of member company investments in vaccine and research facilities, and argued that Canada must act strategically to remain competitive globally.
The committee began with a procedural motion to divide future meetings into two one-hour blocks with a maximum of three witnesses per hour, which was agreed. A motion was also introduced to summon Mary Hughes, Vice President of Commercial Operations for Grifols Canada, to appear as part of a panel by March 27, 2026, after Grifols declined an earlier invitation; the motion was debated but no vote was recorded in the transcript.
AI-generated summary — may contain errors; verify against the official evidence.