On November 18, 2003, Dr. Mark McClellan, Commissioner of Food and Drugs (US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Department of Health and Human Services) and Diane Gorman (Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Products and Food Branch, Health Canada) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). According to a Health Canada news release, the MOU “will further enhance cooperation between Health Canada and the US Food and Drug Administration.” In general, the MOU will “better enable the two regulatory authorities to share information on the post-market safety of therapeutic products, information related to the review and evaluation of new product submissions and information on product investigations and enforcement activities…such as cross-border issues.”
On November 18, 2003, the Minister of Health issued a news release responding to comments made by Dr. McClellan earlier that day relating to internet pharmacy. The Minister’s comments include an assurance that, as of November 17, 2003, “no jurisdiction had reported drug shortages as a result of the practice of internet pharmacy.”
Read the original article written by Gunars Gaikis of our Toronto office.