The national lobby group for producers of cheaper alternatives for biologic drugs visited Queen's Park on Tuesday to call on Premier Doug Ford's government to implement a years-in-the-works drug policy that it says would save Ontario $3 million per week.

When asked on Tuesday, Health Minister Sylvia Jones' spokesperson didn't respond before this story was published about when the government's cost-saving biosimilars-switching plan might be put into action.

Biosimilars are biologic drugs that are highly similar to drugs that are already in use, which tend to be called their "reference drug." Biosimilars are different from generic drugs because generic drugs contain identical medicinal ingredients to the products they're based off of, whereas biosimilars are not exactly identical. Biosimilars are also made from living cells and are often more complex than generic drugs, and require more comprehensive study than generics do to receive regulatory authorization, according to Health Canada.

Health Canada has approved multiple biosimilars of insulin, the most common diabetes medication, and infliximab, a common arthritis and Crohn's disease treatment, as examples.

A major benefit of biosimilars is that they can be as effective as their reference drug, while being much cheaper.

"Implementing a switching policy in Ontario is a responsible use of taxpayer dollars," Biosimilars Canada president Jim Keon said at Queen's Park on Tuesday. Biosimilars Canada estimates that Ontario's government would save $3 million/week — equalling $147 million/year — by enacting a biosimilars-switching policy.

"It will contribute to a more sustainable drug plan that enables the government to fund other priorities while continuing to provide high quality patient care," Koen said.

Canada is a major spender on biologic drugs. In 2020, it was the fourth-highest spender among industrialized countries on biologics, with these types of drugs accounting for 33.9 per cent of pharmaceutical sales — equalling an average of $262/person — in Canada in 2020, according to the country's Patented Medicine Prices Review Board. Biologics sales also tripled in Canada from $3.3 billion in 2011 to $10 billion in 2020.

In 2019, British Columbia was the first province to steer people covered under its taxpayer-funded pharmaceutical drug program to instead use biosimilars for certain treatments. Other provinces and territories, including Alberta, New Brunswick, Quebec, and the Northwest Territories followed by adding biosimilars policies to their public drug coverage plans.

Like Ontario, other provinces and territories have been planning biosimilar-switching programs as well.

Koen said Ontario's Ministry of Health led Biosimilars Canada to believe that the government was going to announce its program in early 2020, before those plans were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Globe and Mail reported in February 2020 that Ford's cabinet signed off on a biosimilars plan a month earlier.

It wasn't until 2021 that Koen remembers the Ford government again beginning to consult with industry and patient groups.

"Then the time went by and the (provincial) election was coming and the government said, 'now we're focused on the election period' and carrying on with the other health priorities we have, (and) we'll come back to this after the election," Koen said.

Biosimilars Canada has met with staff of the health minister's and of the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, as well as advisers of Ford's since the election, Koen said.

"The (health) minister told us that she's a new minister and wanted to look at the policy and make sure that it's the right policy," he added. "So it's not that we've been told they're not moving ahead, it just seems to be taking quite a bit of time."

Ford government’s delay to enact drug policy costing Ontario: lobby group

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