Reforming the Regulation of Therapeutic Products in Canada: The Protecting of Canadians from Unsafe Drugs Act (Vanessa’s Law)

Abstract

Enacted November 2014, Vanessa’s Law amends the Food and Drugs Act to give Health Canada greater powers to compel the disclosure of information, recall drugs and devices, impose fines and injunctions, and collect post-market safety information. The Act amends seriously outdated legislation that had been in place since 1954. While the explicit goals of the Act are to improve patient safety and provide transparency, it also establishes a regulatory framework that facilitates investment in the burgeoning field of biotechnology. While regulatory reform was already on the public agenda, public awareness of litigation against large pharmaceutical firms combined with the championing of the legislation by Conservative MP Terence Young, whose daughter Vanessa died from an adverse drug reaction, pushed the legislation through to implementation. Many key aspects of the Act depend upon the precise nature of supporting regulations that are still to be implemented. Despite the new powers conferred by the legislation on the Minister of Health, there is some concern that these discretionary powers may not be exercised, and that Health Canada may not have sufficient resources to take advantage of these new powers. Given experience to date since enactment, the new legislation, designed to provide greater transparency vis-à-vis therapeutic products, may actually have a chilling effect on independent scrutiny.

Keywords

• Vanessa's Law
• pharmaceuticals
• medical devices
• therapeutic products
• regulatory reform
• transparency
• patient safety
• adverse effects
• post-market surveillance
• Food and Drugs Act