Doug Sommerville of Teva Canada Elected Chair of Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association

Jean-Guy Goulet of Pharmascience Elected Vice Chair

TORONTO, Oct. 2, 2017 /CNW/ - The Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association (CGPA) is pleased to announce the election of Mr. Doug Sommerville, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Teva Canada, as Chair of CGPA, and Jean-Guy Goulet, Chief Operating Officer of Pharmascience as Vice Chair of CGPA.

"I am pleased to be granted the honour and responsibility of serving as Chair of CGPA. Canada's generic pharmaceutical industry plays a key role in ensuring the sustainability of drug benefit plans and the overall health-care system in Canada," said Mr. Sommerville. "Despite this, our industry and the overall generic pharmaceutical supply chain are facing significant challenges to our sustainability in Canada. Ensuring a stable, predictable market for our companies and the continued supply and introduction of cost-saving generic prescription medicines must remain our key focus."

Mr. Sommerville said a key component of this work will be the establishment of a pricing and regulatory regime in Canada. He noted that continued price compression coupled with increasing regulatory requirements are threatening the industry's ability to makes its full contribution to the Canadian health-care system and economy.

"By using their joint bulk purchasing power through the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance (pCPA) Canada's Provinces, Territories and federal government have jointly negotiated nearly $3-billion in further price discounts for generic prescription medicines for all Canadian patients and payers," said Mr. Sommerville. "As further price discounts are demanded, we must work with governments to put in place the appropriate market conditions and eliminate unnecessary costs in order to help sustain continued product supply and development."  

Mr. Goulet added that, now that prices of generic prescription medicines have been dramatically reduced, the focus must switch to implementing changes that increase their use in Canada. It is estimated that every one percent increase in the use of generic prescription medicines, Canadians save an additional $480-million. In the United States, generics are dispensed to fill 89 percent of all prescriptions. If the use of generic medicine in Canada were equal to the U.S. levels, Canadians could save more $9-billion annually

"Many of the most widely prescribed generic drugs offer a massive 85 percent discount from the prices of the equivalent brand-name versions, but price doesn't matter if they're not being used," said Mr. Goulet. "We want to work with Canadians to implement strategies to increase the use of generic prescription medicines so that the saving provided by these lower prices can be fully realized."

Mr. Sommerville joined Teva Canada Limited in April 2005 and was appointed Senior Vice President and Country General Manager in January 2014. Prior to joining Teva, Mr. Sommerville was Global Vice President, Infusion Systems with Baxter Healthcare International.

Mr. Goulet, who joined Pharmascience in May 2017, began his career in 1987 at Technilab Pharma, later acquired by Ratiopharm. From 2002 to 2006, he was President of the Commercial division of Ratiopharm Canada, then President of North America from 2006 to 2010.  Mr. Goulet joined Watson Plc in 2011, which was renamed Actavis in 2012. He led Actavis Canada and Latin America until the acquisition by Actavis plc of Allergan in April 2015. He then became President of Actavis Canada, until the sale of this division to a global pharmaceutical company.

About the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association

The Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association (CGPA) represents Canada's generic pharmaceutical industry. The industry plays an important role in controlling health-care costs in Canada. Generic drugs are dispensed to fill more than 70 percent of all prescriptions but account for account for only 22 percent of the $26-billion Canadians spend annually on prescription medicines.

SOURCE Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association