Nova Scotia’s health minister says a national effort to purchase cutting-edge medication for cystic fibrosis patients is taking too long.

For more than a year, a pan-Canadian group led by Alberta and Yukon has been negotiating with Vertek, the maker of Kalydeco, to buy the drug as affordably as possible. The most recent offer from the company was rejected Tuesday. More talks are scheduled today in Toronto.

Leo Glavine said he’s not aware of the most recent proposal the Canadian reps turned down, but he thinks it’s time for all health ministers to be brought into the loop to determine if negotiations have gone on long enough.

“To have this denied now for over a year is really troubling and very frustrating to me as minister, that we as a pan-Canadian alliance have not been able to reach a deal when other countries have been able to do this,” Glavine said.

Although the drug, approved by Health Canada in 2012, has been shown to make life-altering improvements for patients with certain mutations of cystic fibrosis, the Canadian group has been unable to reach a deal with the drug-maker. At $300 to $400 a pill, a year’s worth of Kalydeco comes in at a cost of about $300,000 per patient.

For more details, go to: http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1207739-glavine-urges-action-on-cf-drug-prices