Results 3,381-3,400 of 9,393 for speaker:Alex White

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: Essentially the section provides for the Short Title, the collective citation and the commencement. It is the provision that appears in any similar legislation but there is no proposal to incorporate the scenario to which Deputy Naughten refers. The Bill deals with the pricing and supply of medical goods and there is no proposal to extend it beyond the pricing and supply of medical goods.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I understand the point made by the Deputy but to be perfectly frank, this is not the type of legislation that would comprehend the regime be believes ought to be provided for in statutory form. In all likelihood that would require not just amending legislation but a different type of legislation. This Bill provides for the substitution of generic drugs for branded drugs. The scheme of the...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: Foodstuffs.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: It is something we can contemplate in a discussion in the future on what kind of legislation would allow for the kind of scenario raised by the Deputy. We can only do a certain amount in this legislation and a huge amount is being done here. However, we cannot try to extend it outside the basic remit contemplated which is the substitution of generic drugs for branded drugs in certain...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: That precise point may not require to be provided for in a Bill at all. What the Deputy is talking about may be possible in any event. I am sceptical that this legislation is the location for the kind of scenario to which the Deputy refers. If there is anything he wishes to say to me between now and Report Stage that might develop the point, I would certainly listen.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I am being asked to clarify the issue.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I will certainly consider what the Deputy has said.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: As soon as the legislation is enacted and commenced, the Irish Medicines Board will decide on the medicines for inclusion in interchangeable groups on the list of interchangeable medicines. Market authorisation holders, MAHs, will be consulted on the proposed groups of interchangeable medicines and will then have 28 days in which to comment to the Irish Medicines Board. We anticipate that...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I am satisfied that there will be sufficient time. Obviously the Irish Medicines Board is anticipating the passing of the legislation. Therefore, it is already in a position to begin to consider and, I am advised, has begun to consider the work it will have to undertake once the Bill is enacted. It will not be a complete year zero when the President signs the legislation. Like Deputies, I...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I anticipated that some of these issues would be raised, many of which are more germane to section 5 than section 4. I am in the Chairman's hands as to when we will deal with them.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I am in the committee's hands. I will deal with any of these issues as they are very fair. The issue of timing is specific to section 4. Deputy Kelleher is correct that there is no defined timeline. It would not be reasonable to have precise timelines and Deputy Kelleher would not expect us to legislate for them. The section provides that the board "shall" act as soon as is practicable,...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: That will be an important requirement. I accept that.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: Not at all. The Irish Medicines Board is devising, as it must, a communications strategy which does not rely solely on the Internet, as has been suggested.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: The question of the kind the Deputy mentions would not arise. That is a newly patented drug. That is not what we are talking about here. We are talking about generic substitution. I can understand people's concerns and this is new to our system. We have never had proper legislative provision for generic substitution. It is not a willy-nilly charter for cheap drugs. It is unfortunate...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I move amendment No. 1: In page 14, subsection (3)(b), lines 30 and 31, to delete all words from and including “the” in line 30 down to and including “run” in line 31 and substitute the following:“the running of the period of 180 days referred to in subsection (2) is, upon the giving of the notice referred to in paragraph (a) to the applicant,...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I thank the Chairman and committee members for raising this matter. I appreciate the concerns expressed and have met Epilepsy Ireland to discuss the matter. I have carefully considered everything that has been, including the matters raised at the committee last week. I met the relevant body sometime back and had a good discussion with it. With the permission of the Chairman, I will...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I will try to make my original point in slightly different terms. The Irish Medicines Board will have a central role to play in what is contemplated in the legislation. I do not want any of those present - members, the Chairman and everyone else involved in the legislative process - to react to what I am about to say because it is not intended in a critical way. The point is that we cannot...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: Section 13 will provide an additional protection to those listed in section 5. Section 13 states: When a branded interchangeable medicinal product is prescribed for a patient and the prescriber [the doctor] is satisfied that the medicinal product should, for clinical reasons, be exempted from substitution in accordance with Chapter 2, the prescriber shall write, legibly and by hand,...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: Generic products are being dispensed perfectly legally in the system, not improperly. If a medicine is prescribed generically, pharmacists can fill the prescription with the appropriate product. Pharmacists can also supply a parallel-imported product. As matters stand, this is perfectly legal and I am not suggesting it should be otherwise. I have stated we are dealing with a human...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Alex White: The Deputy raises some fair points which probably have a broader application to the whole area of drugs and medicines than the area contemplated in this Bill. It is fair to have regard to people's information and knowledge about the drugs they are prescribed. The professionals across the board have an interest in the communication of accurate information to patients and in ensuring that...