The Promise and Perils of Drug Pricing Regulations
Webinar with William Comanor and Kimberly Robinson
In Canada’s largest reform to drug pricing regulations in over twenty years, the federal government recently announced sweeping changes to the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB). Some experts support these changes as the regulations will make prescription drugs more affordable for Canadians, but others argue they will make drug importation more difficult and create challenges in bringing important medications into the country. Join the C.D. Howe Institute on March 23rd to hear our expert panel tackle the question: how will changes to drug pricing regulations impact Canadians?
William Comanor, Professor of Health Policy Management, UCLA and Professor of Economics, Emeritus, UCSB, University of California, Santa Barbara; Former Chief Economist and Director of the Bureau of Economics, U.S. Federal Trade Commission
William S. Comanor is Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), and also Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. At UCLA, he serves as Director of the UCLA Research Program in Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy and has directed a seminar on pharmaceutical economics for more than 20 years. His doctoral dissertation at Harvard University was entitled: “The Economics of Research and Development in the Pharmaceutical Industry;” and he has continued to study, lecture, publish, and consult on many issues dealing with pharmaceutical economics.
At UCSB, he is the past Director of the MA Program in Economics and regularly teaches a course in Antitrust Economics. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and was a post-doctoral fellow at the London School of Economics. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of California, he was on the faculties of both Harvard and Stanford Universities. He has authored and edited 5 books and over 100 professional articles in economics; and was designated a Distinguished Fellow of the Industrial Organization Society in 2003.
In addition to his academic positions, Dr. Comanor has served twice with the federal antitrust enforcement agencies in Washington, DC. He served as Special Economic Assistant to the head of the Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice in 1965-66, and also as Chief Economist and Director of the Bureau of Economics, U.S. Federal Trade Commission from 1978 to 1980.
Kimberly Robinson, Director of Pricing and Market Access, PDCI Market Access
Kimberly Robinson is Director, Pricing and Market Access at PDCI. Kimberly joined PDCI from PharmaKare Consulting, where she was Principal Consultant, with a focus on PMPRB pricing consultation. Prior to founding PharmaKare, Kimberly spent 18 years with Janssen. During her career at Janssen, she gained expertise in all aspects of market access, including HTA strategy development, health economics and outcomes research, government and stakeholder relations and strategic pricing.
At PDCI, Kimberly leads the Pricing Team and focuses on the development and implementation of strategic public and private pricing and reimbursement strategies, market access assessments and new policy impact analyses and assessments. Kimberly and her team are immersed in the analysis of the impacts of the upcoming changes to the Patented Medicines Regulations and the proposed draft PMPRB Guidelines.
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