Pangaea Express - Quebec Bills 128 and 148

As previously announced through Pangaea Express, the big Bill 128 flip flop that sets professional allocations (PA’s) to pharmacists back to 15%, will become effective on October 19. This was published in the Official Gazette October 4, 2017.

Until this date, PA's are still uncapped, which means that pharmacists will certainly do some pantry-filling shopping of generics until the implementation of the regulation.

In addition, Bill 148, that stipulates how pharmacies can acquire their generic drugs, was recently introduced by the Quebec Health Minister, Gaetan Barrette, at the National Assembly. Bill 148 is essentially around 3 amendments:

• Pharmacies can not purchase more than 50% of their generic drugs from one manufacturer
• Pharmacies will have to report yearly purchases made for generic products
• Penalty will be charged to pharmacies who do not comply to the 50% quota

Bill 148 will be subject to the normal review process at the National Assembly. It is difficult at this time to estimate the timeframe for which this legislation will sanctioned and implemented.

For more information, please contact Ghislain Gauthier, Director, The Pangaea Group