Call for Signatures on CAMR Reform

Bill C-393 is important legislation now before the Parliament of Canada that would strengthen Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR) and deliver life-saving medicines to those most in need in developing countries.  If CAMR can be made to work by enacting Bill C-393’s reforms – including the “one-licence solution” – it would be one mechanism helping to address the persistent global inequity in access to health care.

However, there is a strong lobby against the bill.  This has included much misinformation about the bill and about what is needed in the response to the health needs of developing countries, including the urgent need for more affordable medicines for public health problems such AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other public health problems.

It is, therefore, important that health professionals and scientists speak out in support of this initiative.  Parliament made a unanimous pledge seven years ago when it created Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime to help respond to the needs of developing countries.  But in all the years since, there has been but a single use of CAMR to supply one AIDS medicine to one country (Rwanda) – and there is no prospect of it being used again unless it is streamlined the way Bill C-393 proposes, which would make it a viable initiative that could be used by developing countries to obtain less expensive, generic medicines.

Bill C-393 will be coming up for a final vote in the House of Commons in early March, so it is important that MPs hear from concerned Canadians before then. 

The draft of an open letter from concerned Canadian health professionals and scientists, calling on Parliamentarians to take action to fix Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR) can be found here.  Please consider adding your name. 

If you are a health professional or scientist and would like to sign on to this letter, please send your name, professional qualifications and any relevant affiliations to Lindsey Amèrica-Simms at lsimms [at] aidslaw [dot] ca by March 1st.  

For an update about Bill C-393 from the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, see here.  More information also available at “Fixing CAMR: Everything you need to know about Bill C-393” and additional materials at the Legal Network's site.