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Bill C-248

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SUMMARY

This enactment will limit the life of patents for medicines to 17 years and allow for compulsory licences to be granted for the manufacture and sale of medicines after the original patentee has had the medicine approved for marketing for four years. The royalty rate is to take into account the amount of medical research carried out in Canada by the applicant and the patentee. There is provision for refusal or deferral of the licence if a patentee has been unusually delayed in commercializing a medicine.

The decision on the licence and its terms is to be made by the existing Patented Medicine Prices Review Board. The Board is renamed the Patented Medicine Review Board to reflect its wider mandate.

The annual report of the Board is changed to a report every six months and is to be referred to the Standing Committee on Industry. The report is to list the applicants for the patent medicine licences under the Act, list those refused and give the resons for refusal. This allows for regular detailed parliamentary review of the work of the Board on pricing and licensing.