New guideline for Parkinson's disease aims for clear communication and standardized care for the Parkinson's community
Includes new non-motor, palliative care, and treatment advances
TORONTO, Sept. 9, 2019 /CNW/ - A comprehensive new Canadian Guideline for Parkinson Disease, 2nd Edition, provides practical guidance for physicians, allied health professionals, people with Parkinson's and families on disease management. CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journalwww.cmaj.ca) published the new guideline accompanied by an easy-to-reference infographic and podcast.
Parkinson's is a debilitating, progressive neurological disease that affects quality of life for those diagnosed and their caregivers.
Since publication of the first Canadian guideline in 2012, there have been significant advancements in Parkinson's disease. The new guideline, sponsored by Parkinson Canada, shows the latest evidence and advances in diagnosis, treatment and symptom management; the guideline contains a new section on palliative care. An interdisciplinary team of experts from across Canada helped develop the second edition including 13 new recommendations, which consolidate new evidence and address gaps.
"Depression and anxiety are common symptoms of Parkinson patients and can be harder to recognize. Physicians should feel more comfortable with treating the depression and anxiety as these directly impact the quality of life of people with Parkinson's and their caregivers," says Dr. David Grimes, lead author of the Canadian Guideline for Parkinson Disease and Division Head, Neurology, The Ottawa Hospital, University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Research Institute.
"Our message to individuals is 'don't wait.' There are professionals who can directly improve a person's quality of life through early and regular intervention," says Joyce Gordon, Parkinson Canada CEO. "There is a lot a person can do now to live life to the fullest, working together with their healthcare team to mitigate symptoms and improve health outcomes," she adds.
The guideline includes 97 recommendations divided into five sections for ease of use:
Communication (including families and caregivers)
Diagnosis and progression
Treatment
Non-motor features
Palliative care
"A limitation to implementing the guideline is the lack of access to healthcare providers experienced in caring for people with Parkinson's disease," says Dr. Grimes. "In addition to specialist physicians, we need more nurses, and speech, occupational and physical therapists with training in this area, as well as appropriate palliative care for Parkinson patients."
"The guideline provides evidence-based recommendations to improve the overall standard of care of individuals with Parkinson disease in Canada, not only for healthcare professionals but also for policy makers, patients themselves and their caregivers," writes Dr. Veronica Bruno, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Movement Disorders Program and Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, and coauthor in a related commentary https://bit.ly/2lvRkWy.
Parkinson's is a complex disease that requires clear, standardized procedures to manage effectively. The disease affects not only those diagnosed, but also those in their family, work and social circles. More than 100,000 Canadians are diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and related conditions.
About Parkinson Canada Parkinson Canada provides services and education to people living with Parkinson's disease, their families, and the healthcare professionals who treat them. Operating since 1965, the organization advocates with federal, territorial and provincial governments on issues that concern the Parkinson's community in Canada. The Parkinson Canada Research Program funds innovative research for better treatments and a cure. Parkinson Canada is a founding partner of the Canadian Open Parkinson Network. C-OPN will increase collaboration across institutions and scientists to accelerate discoveries through a shared databank and biorepository. A national registered charity, Parkinson Canada operates through the generosity of donors and is an accredited organization under the Imagine Canada Standards Program since 2013. Parkinson Canada participates in numerous coalitions and partnerships to fulfil its mission.
L’ORÉAL PARIS AND THE HOUSE OF KARL LAGERFELD ANNOUNCE IKONIC LOOKS WITH ROCK CHIC EDGE
Paris, France – L’Oréal Paris and KARL LAGERFELD are thrilled to introduce its highly anticipated makeup collection that blends the designer’s rock-chic style and love for Parisian elegance. Inspired by his original perspective and cutting edge approach to style, this unique collection celebrates the iconic life and legacy of Karl Lagerfeld.
The new cosmetics line will include a variety of products that are designed to bring your look from day to night, from Bare Faced Beauty to Rock Chic Sophisticated.
Color Riche Lipstiks – Six reinvented essentials to dress lips in nudes or pops of colour
Maskara – The Blakest Black Mascara to amp anyone’s edge
Graphik Liner – Upgrade the cat eye look with rebellious metallic
Eye Kontour - From Daytime Pretty to Smudge Rock Chic, this eyeshadow palette has it all
Kushion – Universal Goddess Glow for all skin tones
As one of the last projects Karl Lagerfeld worked on, L’Oréal Paris respectfully carries on his memory with a collaboration that honours his commitment to celebrating feminine power and quest to create the unexpected.
High-res images of the above products are available for download here:
For more information about L’Oréal Paris Canada makeup launches and products, please contact: Alexandra Scarlato, rock-it promotions, inc. at alexandra@rockitpromo.com or 416.656.0707 ext. 123
About L’Oréal Paris L’Oréal Paris, the world’s no.1 beauty brand, is dedicated to empowering women and men by offering the most luxurious and innovative products and services available in the mass market. For most, the name “L’Oréal” is immediately evocative of the brand’s signature phrase, “Because I’m Worth It.”— the tagline behind the legendary advertising campaign for the Superior Preference® hair colour launch in 1973. Today, it represents the essence of the L’Oréal Paris brand as a whole, a spirit which is about helping every woman – and man - embrace their unique beauty while reinforcing their inner sense of self-worth. For more than 100 years, L’Oréal Paris has held an unparalleled commitment to advancement in technology, innovation and research, providing ground-breaking, high-quality products for women, men, and children of all ages and ethnicities in five major beauty categories: cosmetics, skincare, hair colour, haircare, and men’s grooming.
Revolutionary new Continuous Glucose Monitoring System eliminates fingersticks* for people with diabetes
VANCOUVER, Sept. 9, 2019 /CNW/ - DexCom Inc. (NASDAQ:DXCM), a leader in continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), announced today that it is now accepting orders for the Dexcom G6 CGM System for people with diabetes ages two years and up.
"We are thrilled to offer the Dexcom G6 Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) System to Canadians and are proud of this innovative technology that enables more effective diabetes management," said Laura Endres, Vice President and General Manager, Dexcom Canada, Inc. "The Dexcom G6 not only frees people with diabetes from the burden of fingersticks, but also offers real-time alerts and other features that can help people make more informed decisions for their daily diabetes management. This product changes people's lives."
The Dexcom G6 is now available and builds upon the core attributes of the Dexcom G5 Mobile CGM technology platform, while introducing new features that empower users to take control of their diabetes:
Elimination of fingersticks for calibration and diabetes treatment decisions*
Continuous glucose readings sent automatically using Bluetooth technology to any compatible smart device†, or to a Dexcom receiver, at five-minute intervals
Customizable alerts and alarms, including a new Urgent Low Soon alert which can warn users up to 20 minutes in advance of an urgent hypoglycemic event, so they can take steps to prevent it
Real-time data sharing with the Dexcom G6 app, allowing the user to share their glucose data with up to five followers to monitor their glucose levels remotely for extra peace of mind
10-day sensor allowing for longer wear (3 days longer than the previous generation Dexcom CGM)
A slimmer transmitter with a lower profile for more discreet wear ability
An auto-applicator designed to make sensor insertion simple with the touch of a button
A newly designed receiver with a touchscreen display (optional display device)
New sensor membrane that enables acetaminophen use without any effect on glucose readingsǂ
"It is an exciting time for diabetes management, as new advancements in diabetes monitoring technology allow patients to move away from the traditional fingerstick blood glucose monitoring to continuous blood glucose monitoring" said Dr. Rémi Rabasa-Lhoret, Endocrinologist & Director of the Montreal Clinical Research Institute Diabetes Clinic. "Rather than multiple daily checks, patients can now have access to real-time detailed blood glucose profiles with alarms, allowing them to prevent and treat both low and high blood glucose levels - enabling easier and more informed therapeutic decisions. These devices are key to achieve recommended therapeutic goals more safely and easily. The Dexcom G6 is another advancement for glucose monitoring - allowing 10 days of wireless glucose monitoring without fingersticks, using an accurate, small and easy to use device."
In Canada, both current and new CGM users can now purchase a Dexcom G6 CGM starter kit at the Dexcom Store online at www.dexcom.com.
More information on Dexcom G6 can be found at www.dexcom.com.
About Dexcom G6 The Dexcom G6 is a stand-alone CGM system for people with diabetes who use insulin – who administer insulin either with multiple daily injections or an insulin pump. With the Dexcom G6, the sensor is worn separately from an insulin pump and is inserted under the skin to measure the level of glucose in the interstitial fluid (fluid in the tissue). The sensor is disposable and should be changed every 10 days.
About CGM CGM devices are considered the most significant breakthrough in diabetes management in the past 40 years1 and Dexcom has been a leader of those innovations. Type 1 diabetes affects nearly 300,000 Canadians2. The traditional standard-of-care for glucose monitoring has been a fingerstick meter, which is painful as some patients needed to test their blood up to 12 times a day. CGM is important because, in addition to providing the glucose level, it provides the direction and rate of glucose change at a glance and alerts users when glucose levels are too low or too high. People with diabetes who take insulin must monitor their blood glucose levels frequently to manage their condition. Uncontrolled glucose can cause serious health complications and even death3,4. To learn more about CGM, visit www.dexcom.com.
About Dexcom, Inc. Dexcom, Inc., headquartered in San Diego, CA, and has operations in Canada, is dedicated to helping people better manage their diabetes by developing and marketing continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) products and tools for adult and pediatric patients. With exceptional performance, patient comfort and lifestyle flexibility at the heart of its technology, users have consistently ranked Dexcom highest in customer satisfaction and loyalty.
*If your glucose alerts and readings from the G6 do not match symptoms or expectations, use a blood glucose meter to make diabetes treatment decisions.
ǂ G6 readings can be used to make diabetes treatment decisions when taking up to a maximum acetaminophen dose of 1,000mg every six hours. Taking a higher dose may affect the G6 readings.
1 Clarke SF and Foster JR. A history of blood glucose meters and their role in self-monitoring of diabetes mellitus. Br J Biomed Sci. 2012;(3)2:83-93.
2 Canadian Diabetes Association. The prevalence and costs of diabetes. December 2009.
Want to cut your calories? Budget them by meal, study finds
Limiting the calories you consume in each meal is more effective than setting a daily allowance, researchers have found.
The official NHS weight-loss programme, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and the free app MyFitnessPal all advise dieters to stick to a daily calorie budget.
However, an international study found that people who set an allowance for each meal and snack consumed fewer calories than those who stuck to a single daily budget.
This meal-by-meal approach is already used by a smaller number of weight-loss programmes, including the paid-for version of the MyFitnessPal app.
Experts believe a similar approach could also help people to reduce their alcohol and cigarette intake and adopt a healthier lifestyle by setting themselves lower limits more frequently.
Dr Miaolei Jia, Assistant Professor at Warwick Business School, said: “Dieters are motivated to reduce the number of calories they consume.
“Every time they choose what to eat or drink is seen as another opportunity to cut calories.
“Setting a calorie budget for each meal and snack therefore provides more calorie cutting opportunities than setting a single allowance for an entire day.”
The study When Unpacking Leads to Lower Calorie Budgets by Dr Jia, from Warwick Business School, Xiuping Li from the National University of Singapore, and Aradhna Krishna from the University of Michigan, has been published in the Journal of Consumer Research.
In one of their experiments, the team instructed 100 people to budget the number of calories they were allowed the following day and take photographs of everything they ate.
One group set separate calorie limits for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. A second group set a single daily calorie allowance.
Participants with a separate target for each meal set an average budget of 1,528 calories. The second group set an average daily allowance of 2,011 calories.
Those who budgeted for each meal separately actually consumed an average of 1,417 calories, 219 fewer than those with a single daily limit.
Dr Xiuping Li said: “Those with a daily budget thought about cutting calories for meals such as dinner and snacks, where they thought they were most likely to overconsume, but did not think about other meals.
“Those who budgeted on a meal by meal approach cut the calories in all the meals they ate, which drove down their daily allowance.”
Aradhna Krishna said: “Our results are not just relevant for controlling how much one eats, but also how much one smokes or drink – any context where people have a motive to reduce their consumption.”
UUL Sent warning letter from FDA for Illegally Marketing eCigs and Vaping products to Youth
The FDA sent a warning letter to JUUL Labs for claiming e-cigarettes are safer than paper cigarettes. JUUL has 15 days to respond.
This warning comes on the heels of a recent flurry of deadly lung illnesses thought to be associated with the use of vaping products.
Prior to this, doctors including Joshua Mansour, M.D. have expressed concerns that the federal government was not taking the health problems associated with vaping seriously in that the government had allowed e-cigarette makers until 2022 to submit their plans for preventing underage access to their products.
The underage vaping problem has escalated in recent years as the providers of vaping products claimed vaping was safer than cigarettes, yet the whole vaping craze addicted millions of young people to nicotine who had not been cigarette smokers prior.
Dr. Mansour has warned that nicotine use causes irritation to the lining of the lungs. Furthermore, oils in the lungs are not considered healthy so if a person must vape they should do so with a water-based product, not oil-based.
So, we are faced with a triple danger from vaping:
1) From impurities, oils, and additives in the vape products causing lung problems.
2) Cardio-vascular strain and other health problems associated with nicotine itself.
3) Addiction.
Our children are in danger of becoming addicted to vaping and we need to do something to stop this headlong craze of addiction to unhealthy substances. So, just because certain aspects of vaping may be less unhealthy than paper cigarettes, does that mean vaping should be widely embraced?
pt Health named to the 2019 List of Best Workplaces™ in Healthcare
Mentorship, feedback and team work among pillars of Company's vibrant workplace
BURLINGTON, ON, Sept. 8, 2019 /CNW/ - pt Health is proud to announce that it has been named to the 2019 list of Best Workplaces™ in Healthcare. pt Health received this honour after a thorough and independent analysis conducted by Great Place to Work®.
Heather Shantora, CEO of pt Health, credits the company's success as a dynamic workplace to collaborative leadership teams and their collective commitment to creative thinking; a company-wide willingness to challenge the status quo; a culture of authentically caring for individuals and empowering teams; and a shared entrepreneurial approach firmly focused on value creation.
"I am immensely proud of our team and the exceptional work they do every day," says Shantora. "From 80 sites across the country, we have been able to work together and listen carefully to one another. As a result, we've developed a commitment to excellence that translates into meaningful work and shared goals across the country."
Measuring Workplace Success
pt Health's annual employee survey demonstrates the effectiveness of the company's feedback-driven model. In particular, the company has seen a 15 per cent increase in agreement with the sentiment that "Senior managers consistently demonstrating our values through their behaviours and actions" since Shantora became CEO in 2015. Likewise, pt Health's Employee Referral Score increased 31 per cent in the same timeframe, which manifests in an improved retention rate.
"Healthcare is a challenging business," says Shantora. "In the pursuit of growth and shareholder value, it would be easy to overlook your teams and what your employees need. In fact, that's where successful businesses begin – with employees who believe their points of view, and the effort they put in every day, matter. At pt Health, they matter a great deal."
A Commitment to Mentorship
A cornerstone of the pt Health workplace culture is a commitment to mentorship, and positive, empowering relationships.
pt Health Director of Human Resources, Vanessa Black, has led the company's efforts to ensure proportionate representation among the pt Health management team. Mentorship, she says, helps womennot only imagine what they can achieve but more clearly define their own plan to get there. Currently, 62 per cent of pt Health's senior team is female.
"Seeing is often believing," says Black. "We have worked hard to be the kind of workplace where everyone is motivated to put their hands up for new challenges, knowing they are supported by a network of encouraging peers and mentors."
Black goes on to say that all team members are valued as an integral part of the company's success.
"We are careful to focus on employee opportunity and satisfaction as much as we do ensuring patients are satisfied with the care they receive at our clinics. This is why our employees love working at pt Health."
About pt Health pt Health is the largest woman-led physical rehabilitation company in Canada. With a network of over 230 clinics across Canada serving over 3,000 patients a day, each pt Health clinic offers a unique and integrated combination of physiotherapy, massage therapy, chiropractic care, and acupuncture, all with a 97% patient satisfaction score.
Learn more about pt Heath's commitment to excellent patient care at pthealth.ca or follow us on Twitter at @pthealthphysio
About Great Place to Work®
Great Place to Work® is the global authority on high-trust, high-performance workplace cultures. Conducting the world's largest workplace study, surveying over 8,000 organizations representing more than 10 million employees in more than 50 countries, GPTW provides tremendous understanding of effective business cultures and the increasingly complex marketplace. Through proprietary assessment tools and services, GPTW recognizes the world's Best Workplaces™ in a series of national lists including those published by The Globe & Mail (Canada) and Fortune magazine (USA). GPTW provides the benchmarks and expertise needed to create, sustain, and recognize outstanding workplaces, and it supports clients as this accelerating pace of change compels organizations to continuously adapt, innovate and thrive.
SOURCE pt Health
OXYGEN: A SECRET WEAPON FOR HOLISTIC HEALTH? Expert Offers Insight Into Oxygen, Exercise, & the Art of BreathingWe all know breathing oxygen keeps us alive but it's easy to underestimate just how much it impacts our overall health and fitness. Oxygen helps the body maintain pH balance, boosts metabolism, detoxifies the blood, enhances exercise, and plays a huge role in the recovery process. But just because you are breathing air, doesn't mean that you are getting all of the holistic health benefits that proper breathing can offer. This is especially important when it comes to exercise and fitness.According to expert, Michael Grant White, not all breathing is created equal and there are breathing techniques you can do to enhance your workout."Breathing is an art. Since oxygen is crucial for peak athletic performance, proper breathing should be one of your main focuses during exercise...”
...says White who trains athletes (and those with challenged breathing) to use proper breathing techniques and has seen first-hand how better breathing can help strengthen endurance, lower lactic acid production, and improve stamina for cardio-centric activities (like running, swimming, biking, etc.) In addition, simple breathing techniques can help people (at any level of fitness) recover more quickly from high-intensity activities.Oxygen-enhanced exercise is a holistic approach to fitness that has recently skyrocketed in popularity. Once available and common only with Olympians and pro athletes. this training method has hit the mainstream and now at-home-exercisers and workout warriors across the country are using it as an all-natural way to gain an athletic advantage.
In case you missed this high school biology lesson, here's a quick recap of the science: During exercise, your muscles have to contract and work harder, which increases their demand for oxygen. The amount needed is much more than you are taking in. Your body first burns the existing oxygen in the red blood cells and when this runs out, the body turns to fermentation for its energy needs. Instead of using oxygen, the muscles convert glucose into lactic acid and this is when fatigue sets in. Oxygen-enhanced exercise leverages the body's already-existing system for oxygenating the blood before this happens. It is a scientifically proven phenomenon that’s said to benefit the body by reducing the physical stress of exercise, accelerating recovery, helping you sleep, giving you more energy, and improving your metabolism. "Playing sports, weight-lifting, circuit training, or any other intense physical activity, of course, burns calories and builds muscle, but many people don't consider the wear and tear it has on their body. Lack of oxygen ages the body at a much greater rate..."...says White, who has studied breathing over the past 24 years and has seen a rapid rise in interest for oxygen-enhanced exercise. As anti-doping initiatives spread across the country, and athletic drug testing becomes more prevalent, many athletes are turning to oxygen-enhanced exercise as a way to amplify their workouts without the use of drugs, chemicals, surgery, or invasive techniques. In short: better breathing = better health. Michael Grant White is on a mission to awaken the breathing consciousness of the world. He can share breathing tips people can use to improve their health and their workout and has insight into the oxygen-enhanced exercise trend. IN AN INTERVIEW / ARTICLE:Breathing Tricks to Improve Your Health & Enhance Your Workout3 Ways you Might be Breathing WrongUnlikely Ways Your Breathing Impacts Your LifeFascinating Link Between Breathing & The BrainInsight into the "Oxygen-Enhanced Exercise" Trend: An All-Natural Approach to Improve Health & Enhance Workouts ABOUT MICHAEL GRANT WHITE:Michael Grant White is a holistic health expert, author, and international speaker who has dedicated his career to helping people improve their health through better breathing. As an Optimal Breathing Coach and the founder of My Oxygen Machine andBreathing.com, White is on a mission to make the world healthier one breath at a time.
Earning more than your peers buys more happiness in more countries with a larger rich-poor divide, study finds
Being richer than your peers can buy more happiness than the actual amount you take home, especially in countries with a large divide between rich and poor, a new study shows.
Researchers found people who earned more than others in their reference group – those of the same age, gender, religion, or nationality – were more likely to feel happy with their life.
This was particularly true for people who live in countries with greater income inequality like China and the United States, where the top one per cent of earners commanded the largest share of total income.
Nick Powdthavee, Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School, said: “People care very little about the actual figure they earn. They are more concerned with how their income compares with those around them.
“For example, their sense of wellbeing is more likely to be influenced by whether they are 5th or 40th highest-paid person in their workplace, rather than their precise salary.
“Now we have evidence that being the richest person in your peer group is likely to buy you more happiness if you come from a country where income inequality is seen as the norm.”
Professor Powdthavee conducted the research with Dr Anke Plagnol and Lucia Macchia from City University in London. The paper, Buying Happiness in an Unequal World: Rank of Income More Strongly Predict Well-being in More Unequal Countries, is due to be published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
The researchers compared the income, the income rank, and the wellbeing of 160,000 people in 24 countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany, Australia and China.
They used data collected by the Gallup World Poll between 2009 and 2015. This included household income and a number of survey responses designed to measure happiness, stress, sadness and anger. Respondents were also asked to rate their life on a scale from 0 (worst possible) to 10 (best possible).
Those whose income ranked higher than others of the same age, gender, or religion, were more likely to report feeling happy, excited, or smiling the previous day. They were less likely to have reported feeling stressed, sad, or angry.
However, the effect on well-being of moving up or down the income rank is greater for those living in places where the gap between the rich and the poor is wider.
Professor Powdthavee said: “Earning more than others may improve an individual’s sense of wellbeing more in places where inequality is rife, but it also means that they are likely to suffer more psychologically if they move down the income rankings.
“There is evidence that policies which lower income inequality by redistributing wealth improve the aggregate well-being of the population in a country.
“This could be because there is less anxiety about social status in more equal societies, which means those who fall down the income rank would suffer a less severe drop in well-being.”
Lace Up Your Running Shoes for Huntington Disease!
(Kitchener, ON) September 6, 2019 – Join volunteers of the Huntington Society of Canada (HSC) in Toronto for the Toronto Huntington Heroes Run. By coming out on September 22, you will be providing hope to families and individuals who are impacted by Huntington disease (HD) each day. All proceeds will go directly to HSC to fund family services support and cutting edge research into a treatment for HD.
What? Toronto Huntington Heroes Run
When? Sunday, September 22, 2019 – 7:30 a.m. Registration, Warm up and Announcements at 8:45 a.m., 5K Walk/Run at 9:00 a.m., 1K kid’s race at 10:00 a.m.
Where? Sir Casimir Gzowski Park, Toronto, ON
Details: Participants will enjoy a 5K run/walk or a 1k kid’s race, followed by a silent auction, musical entertainment, and lots of activities, as well as draw prizes and prizes for the best dressed hero! Registration is $40 for adults, $20 for children 12 & under and free for children under 4, and includes a medal, race kit and gift for all participants. For more information and to register, visit www.huntingtonsociety.ca/TORunforHD.
– 30 –
Huntington disease (HD) is a debilitating brain disorder that is fatal and incurable. About one in every 7,000 Canadians has HD and approximately one in every 5,500 is at-risk of developing the disease. Many more are touched by HD whether as a caregiver, a family member, or a friend. Huntington disease is often described as having the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and ALS – simultaneously. As the disease progresses, a person with Huntington’s become less able to manage movements, recall events, make decisions and control emotions. The disease leads to incapacitation and, eventually, death.
The Huntington Society of Canada (HSC) is a respected leader in the worldwide effort to find a meaningful treatment for Huntington disease. HSC is the only Canadian health charity dedicated to providing help and hope for families dealing with Huntington disease across Canada.
BC PharmaCare Expands Biosimilar Switching Program
Time for Other Provinces to Move Forward with Biosimilar Switching Initiatives
TORONTO, Sept. 6, 2019 /CNW/ - Biosimilars Canada, a national association representing Canada's biosimilar medicines industry, today congratulated the Government of British Columbia for building on the success of its biosimilar switching program and called on other provinces to implement similar programs.
Under the second phase of its biosimilar switching program BC PharmaCare will require patients taking the originator Remicade® infliximab product for the treatment of Crohns and colitis to be "switched" or transitioned by their clinicians to an infliximab biosimilar within a six-month period.
"The decision of the Government of British Columbia to expand its biosimilar switching initiative demonstrates continued confidence in biosimilars as a way to manage costs and fund the expansion of patient drug coverage while supporting positive patient outcomes," said Michel Robidoux, Chair of Biosimilars Canada and President and General Manager of Sandoz Canada.
"Switching to biosimilar treatments is the responsible choice for drug programs, and it is time for other provinces to bring the benefits of biosimilar switching programs to their patients, health care providers and taxpayers," said Jim Keon, President of Biosimilars Canada. "Health Canada is clear in its position that patients and health care providers can have confidence in switching from original biologic treatments to their corresponding biosimilar biologic medicines."
On August 23, 2019 Health Canada published a new Fact Sheet which confirms the safety and efficacy of switching to biosimilar treatments. It states: "In the context of biosimilar use, Health Canada considers switching between authorized products to refer to a change from routine use of one specific product to routine use of another specific product. Biosimilars are authorized by Health Canada for the indications listed in the Product Monograph. Patients and health care providers can have confidence that biosimilars are effective and safe for each of their authorized indications. No differences are expected in efficacy and safety following a change in routine use between a biosimilar and its reference biologic drug in an authorized indication."1
While the use of biosimilar medicines has been well-established in Europe with more than 700 million patient days of use over the past decade, the uptake of these medicines in Canada for chronic treatments has been much slower as public and private payers, with few exceptions, have not actively implemented policy levers to support their use beyond naïve or new patients.
About Biosimilar Medicines2 A biosimilar biologic drug, or biosimilar, is a biologic drug that is highly similar to a biologic drug that was already authorized for sale. Biosimilars are manufactured to the same regulatory standards as other biologic drugs and are authorized after a scientific evaluation by Health Canada. Biosimilars are authorized by Health Canada for the indications listed in the Product Monograph. Patients and health care providers can have confidence that biosimilars are effective and safe for each of their authorized indications. No differences are expected in efficacy and safety following a change in routine use between a biosimilar and its reference biologic drug in an authorized indication.
About Biosimilars Canada Biosimilars Canada is a national association representing the biosimilar medicines industry in Canada. Its member companies are at the forefront of the global development and marketing of biosimilar medicines. Biosimilar medicines are approved by Health Canada as being as safe and efficacious as their reference biologic drugs, and are developed to the same quality standards. Biosimilar medicines present a significant opportunity to embrace cutting-edge therapies while addressing the cost-effectiveness demands on healthcare systems in Canada. Biosimilars Canada is a division of the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association. Visit us at www.biosimilarscanada.ca.
