Professor Emeritus of Health Policy and Management, York University, Emergency Physician at University Health Network, Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto
Dr. Lexchin has been writing and publishing about pharmaceutical policy issues for the past 30 years. He is the author or co-author of over 140 peer-reviewed papers on a wide range of topics in this area, including: drug regulation, pharmacosurveillance, drug promotion, research and development, access to medications in developing countries and physician prescribing behaviour. He has been a consultant on these and other issues to the Ontario provincial government, various parts of the Canadian federal government, the government of New Zealand, the Australian National Prescribing Service and the World Health Organization.
High drug prices in Canada are just one side of a bad equation
Jul 18, 2023 07:59 am UTC| Insights & Views
The Canadian health-care system is under pressure as service levels decline while costs escalate. Drugs are one of our largest health-care expenditures. A federal agency, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB),...
Opioid marketing to Canadian doctors hyped benefits, downplayed harms
Mar 10, 2020 11:54 am UTC| Health
Between January 2016 and June 2019 there were over 13,900 deaths from opioid overdoses in Canada, 4,500 of which occurred in 2018. Based on information to date, 2019 is likely to have a similar mortality rate. Most deaths...
Leave the patchwork to the quilts: The case for pharmacare
Aug 26, 2019 04:23 am UTC| Insights & Views Health
On August 15, 2019, more than 1,200 academics, including me, with expertise in health care signed a letter to the leaders of Canadas federal political parties. The letter called on them to commit to a national pharmacare...
Health Canada and Big Pharma: Too close for comfort
Aug 15, 2019 17:54 pm UTC| Insights & Views Business
Over the past few decades its become common practice for drug companies and drug regulators, such as Health Canada, to sit down together at what are called pre-submission meetings. These are get-togethers where both...
Why Big Pharma must disclose payments to patient groups
Jan 14, 2019 10:58 am UTC| Insights & Views Health Business Law
A United States congressional report revealed last year that five opioid manufacturers made more than $10 million in payments to patient advocacy groups and professional societies between 2012 and 2017. Initiatives from...
We need answers to the thalidomide tragedy – to ensure drug safety today
Oct 28, 2018 13:25 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health
In 2015, after decades of fruitless lobbying, Canadian survivors of thalidomide finally received compensation from the federal government. The drug was a supposedly mild sleeping pill, a wonder drug that helped pregnant...
NAFTA negotiations may threaten pharmacare
Sep 10, 2018 13:50 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health
Around 91 per cent of Canadians want a national pharmacare plan, according to a recent national poll, so they dont have to choose between buying groceries or paying for drugs to keep them healthy. The same public...
Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility
Labour can afford to be far more ambitious with its economic policies – voters are on board
Sudan: civil war stretches into a second year with no end in sight