Questions and responses 44th Parliament, 1st session November 22, 2021, to January 6, 2025

With regard to Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), the Ad-hoc COVID-19 Clinical Pharmacology Task Group and Health Canada (HC) research or communication about lvermectin: (a) did they find any harm to Canadians from taking oral lvermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19; (b) did HC, PHAC, or a committee review the lvermectin meta-analysis conducted by Andrew Bryant, lvermectin for Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19 Infection: A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and Trial Sequential Analysis to Inform Clinical Guidelines, American Journal of Therapeutics, 28, e434-e460, July 2021, (i) did their analysis show any benefit from using lvermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19; (c) did HC or PHAC perform a risk-harm analysis for the use of lvermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19, (i) if the answer to (c) is negative, why not, (ii) if the answer to (c) is affirmative, was this information provided to Dr. Theresa Tam, Dr. Supryia Sharma, or the Minister of Health, (iii) what dates was the information from (ii) communicated, (iv) if the answer to (ii) is negative, why not?

With regard to pharmaceutical drugs, treatments and therapies authorized by Health Canada since January 1, 2020: (a) how many pharmaceutical drugs (or new drug submissions) were granted authorization; (b) what are the details of each drug in (a), including the (i) name of the drug, (ii) date of the approval, (iii) purpose of the drug, including the disease or condition treated by drug; and (c) of the pharmaceutical drugs listed in (b), how many and which ones were for treatments or therapies for rare diseases, known as orphan drugs?

With regard to government funding for safer supply programs: (a) what quantity of substances have been distributed through safer supply programs, broken down by year, type of substance, and province or territory, since 2016; (b) who are the recognized manufacturers for the substances provided through safer supply programs, broken down by type of substance; (c) what are the total yearly government expenditures related to safer supply programs; and (d) how much was each manufacturer in (b) paid each year for substances provided by safer supply programs?

With regard to veterinary pharmaceuticals and the fees for related applications to, and approvals by, Health Canada: (a) what was the amount collected in fees in the last fiscal year, in total and broken down by specific type of fee or component; (b) what is the itemized breakdown of how Health Canada spent the money collected from each of the fees in (a); and (c) on which of the fees in (a) did the government collect more money than it spent in costs related to processing the related applications, and, for each such fee, how much was (i) collected from the applicants, (ii) spent on processing?

With regard to the government’s announcement on November 14, 2022, about securing a foreign supply of children’s acetaminophen for sale at retail and in community pharmacies: (a) are there any measures in place to ensure that some of the supply will be sold in pharmacies located in small towns and other rural areas, and, if so, (i) what are those measures, (ii) how many doses are the measures expected to make available for small town and rural pharmacies; and (b) what is the breakdown of the doses expected to be available in each province or territory?

With regard to pharmaceutical drugs, treatments and therapies authorized by Health Canada since January 1, 2022: (a) how many treatments or therapies for rare diseases, known as orphan drugs, were granted authorization; and (b) what are the details of each drug in (a), including the (i) name of the drug, (ii) date of the approval, (iii) purpose of the drug, including the disease or condition treated by the drug?

With regard to planned funding by the government related to "safe" or "safer" supply programs: how much does the government plan on spending on such programs, broken down by department, agency, and initiative in the current fiscal year and in each of the next five fiscal years?

With regard to Health Canada's position on the practice of repackaging single use medications to treat macular degeneration, since 2016: (a) does Health Canada allow the practice; (b) what risks does Health Canada recognize as existing with the practice; (c) has Health Canada studied the risks associated with the practice related to (i) sterility, (ii) cold chain protection, (iii) ultraviolet light protection, (iv) accurate dosing, (v) contamination, (vi) transportation issues, and, if so, what were the findings related to each risk; (d) has Health Canada or the Minister of Health received any warnings or correspondence indicating or suggesting that the practice is occurring in Canada, and, if so, what are the details, including the (i) date, (ii) author of the warning or correspondence, (iii) summary of warning or correspondence, (iv) recipient, (v) summary of response given by Health Canada or the Minister's office; and (e) for each warning or correspondence that was received in (d), what follow-up action was taken?