Health Law and Policy Commons^™

A Bitter Pill To Swallow: Canadian Drug Regulation, Michael Duncan Taylor

LLM Theses

This thesis assesses the current status of Canadian prescription drug regulation and the policy drivers that guide this process. This analysis is accomplished by first providing a general survey of the steps, law, and institutional players involved in the full life-cycle of a drug. Next the evolution of current clinical trials and the gaps that the present legal regime creates in the scientific standards employed in clinical research is reviewed. This is followed by a discussion of how commercialization (innovation) and speed of approval (market access) are slowly becoming the dominant policy drivers for the Canadian regime. Finally a discussion …