Canada’s Opportunity (Once Again) to Set a Global Standard for Universal Healthcare
Chris Halyk
I’m a firm believer that increasing innovation is the key to Canada’s continued economic strength and global competitiveness.
I’ve seen this first hand in the innovative pharmaceutical industry– in which I’ve spent the past 30-years – where increasing innovation has generated two key interrelated outcomes:
- First, and most important, is the significant improvements innovative medicines and vaccines have made in the lives of Canadians. AIDS is a chronic condition rather than a death sentence; Hepatitis C no longer requires a liver transplant; and those battling various cancers can add years to their lives.
- The other is an industry that provides 13,000 high quality jobs, directly employing 30,000 Canadians and driving $19 billion in annual economic activity.
So like many, I was encouraged when the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development last year singled out the health/life sciences industry as one of the sectors to unleash its full potential and lead the future economy of Canada, and committed to, “an ambitious effort to make Canada a world leader in innovation, with a focus on expanding growth and creating good, well-paying jobs.”
For those of us in the health/life sciences sector, investing in innovation and providing the latest medications to Canadians are not mutually exclusive events within a progressive, universal healthcare system.
Yet in this era of unprecedented medical advancements, affordability and price have become governments’ go-to policy measures to address the complex challenge of ensuring a healthier and more productive country.
A Canadian study published in The Lancet earlier this year analyzed our healthcare system’s strengths and weaknesses, and obstacles to change, and concluded the following:
“Without bold political vision and courage to strengthen and expand the country’s health system, the Canadian version of universal health coverage is at risk of becoming outdated.”
This resonated with me when I think about the innovative pharmaceutical industry in Canada and how a singular focus on incremental cost savings has overtaken considerations of the value of innovation to our healthcare system.
We have an opportunity to build an even stronger health/life sciences sector that puts innovation at the centre of an exemplary healthcare system which ensures Canadians can continue to be among the healthiest in the world.
I don’t see this challenge as solely our governments’ responsibility to solve. The authors of The Lancet study concur.
“Public engagement in system stewardship will also be crucial to achieve a high-quality system grounded in both evidence and the Canadian values of equity and solidarity.”
As a start, Janssen is investing in how real-world evidence (RWE) can help healthcare stakeholders obtain a better understanding of the impact and value of medicines to patients.
The RWE approach examines this outside of the clinical trial setting through the collection and analysis of data from patients in real-world situations.This could include data from electronic medical records, health registries, oradministrative claims data, among other sources.
RWE will be invaluable to health system stakeholders, researchers, healthcare providers, regulators and the healthcare industry to make effective decision-making resulting in improved patient care.
RWE is just one example of one stakeholder doing things differently so that everyone can benefit.
As a leader in our industry, Janssen is committed to engaging and collaborating with all stakeholders to fully support innovation in healthcare.
Much like the architects of Canada’s universal healthcare system did decades ago, together we can, once again, set an example for the rest of the world to follow.
Chris Halyk is President, Janssen Inc. (Canada), the pharmaceutical companies of Johnson & Johnson. He can be reached at [email protected]