This House of Commons Standing Committee on Health (HESA) meeting, held on April 23, 2026, studied pharmaceutical sovereignty in Canada. Witnesses included Glenn Thibeault from Diabetes Canada, Christine Donaldson from HealthPRO Canada, Denis Leclerc from VaxSynergy, Stéphanie Michaud from BioCanRx, Angelique Berg from the Canadian Association for Pharmacy Distribution Management, and Sandra Hanna from the Neighbourhood Pharmacy Association of Canada.
Glenn Thibeault highlighted that Canada, despite discovering insulin, does not manufacture any domestically and remains dependent on foreign suppliers, citing a 2024 shortage of injectable glucagon as a warning. He recommended designating insulin and other essential diabetes therapies as critical medicines, leveraging the life sciences fund within the new defence industrial strategy for capital investment and guaranteed procurement, and creating strategic reserves to buffer against supply disruptions.
Christine Donaldson argued that Canada is not well positioned for full pharmaceutical self-sufficiency and should pursue strategic domestic manufacturing focused on critical medicines like sterile injectables and antimicrobials. She recommended updating public procurement to prioritize reliability and redundancy over price alone, enhancing coordinated national data sharing to anticipate shortages, and creating more regulatory agility to incentivize manufacturing.
Denis Leclerc described VaxSynergy’s role in helping Canadian SMEs and researchers develop vaccines and therapeutic proteins, giving examples such as becoming a reference centre for HPV serology after the U.S. CDC ended collaboration. He stressed that sustained government funding is essential for such initiatives to become self-sufficient and to prevent talented researchers from leaving Canada, noting that the country does not invest enough in research and development compared to other G7 nations.
Stéphanie Michaud challenged the framing of pharmaceutical sovereignty as solely a supply chain issue, arguing Canada must also create its own novel therapies. She noted that only 3.4% of cancer immunotherapy clinical trials in Canada are based on domestic innovation, attributing this to a governance gap where translational research falls between federal mandates. She recommended a permanent milestone-driven translational health research program to fund regulatory preparation and a coordinated strategy with accountability across Health Canada, ISED, and federal research bodies.
Angelique Berg emphasized the critical role of pharmaceutical distributors in managing supply and absorbing shocks before patients feel them. She recommended that the strategy view the domestic supply chain as an enabling system, focus domestic manufacturing on a targeted short list of imported critical medicines, and reduce cost, risk, and time to market through regulatory and licensing streamlining, while preserving access from alternative suppliers during the transition.
Sandra Hanna argued that pharmaceutical sovereignty must also ensure supply reaches patients, with pharmacies as the stabilizing last mile. She recommended recognizing pharmacies as critical health care infrastructure, improving supply chain visibility at the pharmacy level, and enabling pharmacists to manage shortages through therapeutic substitution with federal recognition of their authority. She expressed frustration over the end of the federally funded PrescribeIT program, calling e-prescribing foundational system infrastructure rather than an operational tool.
Following the testimony, the committee debated and voted on a motion by Dan Mazier to resume debate on a motion for the production of documents related to the PrescribeIT program, which passed. The meeting then shifted entirely to debate on that motion, with members expressing frustration over the interruption of the scheduled study, and the meeting was eventually adjourned.
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