4 October 2018 - The Trudeau Liberals are being accused of caving in to pressure from the high-powered pharmaceutical industry in Washington at the expense of Canadian patients suffering debilitating medical conditions and those struggling to foot the cost of their pricey medications.

The proposed United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement extends a so-called "market exclusivity" period for high-class biologic drugs to 10 years from eight — a move that applies to medicines increasingly used as a lifeline for patients with chronic conditions including rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease and cancer.

The measure means generic producers would have to wait an additional two years to produce similar drugs at lower costs to consumers, as they won't have access to crucial data needed to do so.

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