Canadians need independent information and evaluation of drugs
Canadians need independent information and evaluation of drugs
The Issue
The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) was "established by Canada’s federal, provincial, and territorial governments to be a trusted source of independent information and advice for the country’s publicly funded health care systems." At least that's what they claim on their website! But recently, they laid off half of their Research Information Services staff, the people who help prepare independent reviews of the medical evidence for decision-makers. Instead, they are asking the drug companies themselves to provide knowledge syntheses.
These choices by CADTH directly impact the medications government plans pay for and the objectivity of CADTH recommendations also pose a big problem for smaller provinces that don't have their own health technology assessment agencies. They'll be pressured to provide funding for expensive (and possibly ineffective) drugs based on the drug companies' own evidence. CADTH isn't just a national leader in providing objective assessments of new drugs and health technologies, they used to be a model that the rest of the world admired. CADTH's Research Information Services team created evidence-based search tools that other agencies, governments and university researchers use to find and prepare the best evidence on a range of topics, from COVID-19 to Indigenous Health to Cancer Care. The cuts to CADTH's Research Information Services team impacts health researchers around the globe.
We're asking CADTH to take these important actions:
- Restore objectivity to knowledge syntheses! Make sure knowledge syntheses used to make decisions are produced independently and in a way that is transparent, reproducible and without bias.
- Restore information services that the staff of CADTH and the provincial partners use to make evidence-informed decisions.
- Ensure the decisions informing the changes at CADTH are based on the best available evidence! Just like they claim on their website.
(images used under Creative Commons license from The Javorac and Larry Lamb on Flickr.com)
2,097
The Issue
The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) was "established by Canada’s federal, provincial, and territorial governments to be a trusted source of independent information and advice for the country’s publicly funded health care systems." At least that's what they claim on their website! But recently, they laid off half of their Research Information Services staff, the people who help prepare independent reviews of the medical evidence for decision-makers. Instead, they are asking the drug companies themselves to provide knowledge syntheses.
These choices by CADTH directly impact the medications government plans pay for and the objectivity of CADTH recommendations also pose a big problem for smaller provinces that don't have their own health technology assessment agencies. They'll be pressured to provide funding for expensive (and possibly ineffective) drugs based on the drug companies' own evidence. CADTH isn't just a national leader in providing objective assessments of new drugs and health technologies, they used to be a model that the rest of the world admired. CADTH's Research Information Services team created evidence-based search tools that other agencies, governments and university researchers use to find and prepare the best evidence on a range of topics, from COVID-19 to Indigenous Health to Cancer Care. The cuts to CADTH's Research Information Services team impacts health researchers around the globe.
We're asking CADTH to take these important actions:
- Restore objectivity to knowledge syntheses! Make sure knowledge syntheses used to make decisions are produced independently and in a way that is transparent, reproducible and without bias.
- Restore information services that the staff of CADTH and the provincial partners use to make evidence-informed decisions.
- Ensure the decisions informing the changes at CADTH are based on the best available evidence! Just like they claim on their website.
(images used under Creative Commons license from The Javorac and Larry Lamb on Flickr.com)
2,097
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Petition created on March 4, 2024