THE ZOOMER SQUAD: CARP'S REACTION TO A NEW U.S. DRUG POLICY

Libby Znaimer is joined by Bill VanGorder, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Policy Officer of CARP, Anthony Quinn, Chief Community Officer of CARP and Peter Muggeridge, Senior Editor of Zoomer Magazine.

It’s Monday time for our Zoomer Squad and there’s  a very worrisome development South of the border: Florida has passed a law allowing the importation of drugs from Canada. The Floridians are thrilled. They say this can save the $150 million a year but what about us? We are already plagued with serious drug shortages. Remember when busloads of Americans drove to a border pharmacy to buy insulin? And what about Americans buying Ozempic here at a third of the US price and exacerbating the shortage? What if anything can be done?

JUSTIN BATES OF THE OPA REACTS TO FLORIDA IMPORTING DRUGS FROM CANADA

Libby Znaimer is joined by Justin Bates, CEO of the Ontario Pharmacists Association.

What are the rules around those possible sales to the US?  Can the wholesalers just sell to whomever they like? Can the government stop them? And these medications are not made here - they are produced by big multinationals. So how does that work?

HOW MANY SURGERIES IN ONTARIO FOR AGGRESSIVE CANCERS ARE DONE WITHIN RECOMMENDED TIME FRAME?

Libby Znaimer is joined by Dr. Aaron Schimmer, the Director of Research at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre as well as a staff physician and a senior scientist.

Some very disturbing statistics from Ontario Health’s annual report: Just over half of cancer surgeries - including those for some of the most aggressive cancers - were completed within the mandated wait time. This is actually a bit of an improvement over the previous year, when the pandemic was more of a factor but it is still not good enough.