LIBERALS COMPLAIN ABOUT DRUG DELAYS

Witmer says wait cut to 3 weeks

Toronto Star Queen's Park Bureau Chief

Is it taking longer than necessary for Ontario's hepatitis C victims to get
the experimental drugs they need?

Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty told the Legislature yesterday that plodding
government procedures can mean a wait of six to eight months before patients
are cleared to use the drugs.

But Health Minister Elizabeth Witmer fired back that the government recently
moved to reduce the wait and clearances now take just three weeks.

At issue is the drug Interferon. It's not on the official roster, or
``formulary,'' of drugs approved and paid for by the province. So its use
requires permission which can take as long as six to eight months.

Citing the current round of federal-provincial talks aimed at securing
compensation for the thousands of people who got the disease through tainted
blood before 1986, McGuinty asked Witmer in the Legislature: ``Why won't you
cut red tape for hep C victims so that they can get early access to the
drugs they need?''

Witmer replied that ``we actually have reduced the time period required to
get access to drugs . . . that can now be done in about three weeks.''

Outside the House, she conceded that until a couple of months ago, the
process did, indeed, take ``up to six months.'' But following complaints
from people with AIDS or the virus that causes the disease - Interferon has
proved helpful to them, too - the government moved to lessen the waiting
time for the drug, which can cost $10,000 a year.

Two Windsor-area hepatitis C victims who appeared with McGuinty at a news
conference said they'd been told by doctors that they'd have to wait months
for dispensation to use the drug. But both said they had not applied to the
government and thus had no way of knowing how long it would take.

Meanwhile, Liberal health critic Gerard Kennedy (York South) said there is
``inconsistent availability across the province.''

Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"