There are reports that the government has again delayed the coming-into-force of the substantive changes to the Patented Medicines Prices Review Board guildelines by six-months. The updates had been scheduled to come into force on July 1st.

Update: Orders in Council 2021-0643:

Regulations amending the REGULATIONS AMENDING THE PATENTED MEDICINES REGULATIONS (ADDITIONAL FACTORS AND INFORMATION REPORTING REQUIREMENTS), NO. 3 in order to delay the coming into force date of the amending regulations until January 1, 2022.

Reported by Politico:

Canada is again postponing its drug pricing reform for patented medicines. The new start date: Jan. 1, 2022. After 3 delays, the government expects this to be the last one. https://t.co/l9tHVX2hnb

— Andy Blatchford (@AndyBlatchford) June 28, 2021

The updates follow postponements to the coming-into-force scheduled for January 1, 2021 (see earlier post) and June 2020. Various coordinating amendments were published earlier this month in the Canada Gazette – see earlier post.