In an all-new full-hour episode premiering Saturday, March 27 at 7 p.m. ET on CTV (visit CTV.ca for local listings), and on CTV.ca following the television broadcast, W5’s Victor Malarek scrutinizes the pharmaceutical industry’s long-standing claim that developing each new drug costs a billion dollars.
Every year thousands of Canadians are denied access to life saving drugs because of exorbitant costs. Governments say they simply can’t afford to pay for every new treatment no matter how vital to patients lives. So why are these drugs so expensive? The pharmaceutical industry maintains high prices are purely a result of the high cost of research and development. Critics insist that simply isn’t so, more often it’s about increasing profits.
Proving it is the most relevant current affairs program in the country, W5 takes an in-depth look at the controversial roles that government and big business play when high drug costs prevent patients from getting the treatments they need.
In this weeks story, “Pills, Patients and Profits,” Robert Landrigan from Surrey, British Columbia found himself fighting for his life in a battle against spreading colon cancer and also in a battle with BC government to get access to drugs that could prolong his life. Ontarian Dan Childerhose fought for the drug he needed to treat his multiple myeloma, a rare form of blood cancer. Once banned around the world, the anti-nausea drug Thalidomide that caused deformity in thousands of children has been proven to be effective in treating patients like Childerhose. Thalidomide went from being sold at a cost of $400 monthly in 1999, to $3600 per month by 2005 – an astonishing 900% increase in price in five years – once its use as a cancer treatment became known.
W5 also interviews Dr. Marcia Angell, physician, Harvard professor and author of The Truth about Drug Companies. Angell and other experts offer viewers a shocking look at where they say the pharmaceutical industry really spends its money.
