VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - In a bid to save more money, the province is re-opening negotiations on the price of generic drugs. BC had until October 1st to decide to enter into new talks in hopes of dropping the price generics from 50 per cent to 35 per cent.
BC NDP leader
Adrian Dix isn't surprised the provincial government is revisiting the generic drug deal. "It was a bad deal to begin with."
"The deal they signed meant that generic drugs were already going to be 40 percent higher than in the province of Ontario. A bad deal for BC. Now they're dealing us they didn't even get the savings they were trying to get out of that deal."
Dix says we were supposed to save a lot more money on the 2010 deal.
"A report by
UBC suggests in 2010 alone had we simply adopted Ontario and Quebec's model we would have saved a further $157 million in that year and $70 million in subsequent years. Now that's a lot of money that could be used for other things in public services. "
The province signed the three-year deal based on potential savings of $170 million. So far, the savings have amounted to $122 million; not good enough says Health Minister
Mike de Jong.
Negotiations to re-open the generic drug deal would be held with the
B.C. Pharmacy Association and the
Canadian Association of Chain Drug Stores.