Director of Canada's drug price regulator resigns same week as colleague steps down
CTV
The executive director of Canada's drug pricing regulator is stepping down -- just days after another member resigned because of concerns that the federal government was undermining the independent body's work.
The executive director of Canada's drug pricing regulator is stepping down -- just days after another member resigned because of concerns that the federal government was undermining the independent body's work.
Douglas Clark, with the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, announced Friday he would be leaving his post after almost a decade with the regulator that oversees the prices of medicines sold in Canada.
His short statement, issued by the regulator's media relations office, did not state why he was leaving. The regulator "wishes to thank Mr. Clark for his years of dedicated service and leadership," the release said.
A day earlier, Matthew Herder, a professor of health law at Dalhousie University, announced he had resigned from the board, accusing the federal government of failing to implement critically important reforms that could lower the cost of medication.
"The government has fundamentally undermined the board's independence and credibility," Herder said in his resignation letter addressed to federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, dated Feb. 21.
Herder, who published his letter on social media, said he no longer believed it was possible to serve the public good in his role, which he had held since 2018.
Responding to news of Clark's resignation on Friday, Herder tweeted that the executive director's departure is an "an immense, irreplaceable loss."
