B.C. reinstates funding for independent pharmaceutical assessments

VANCOUVER – The provincial government has reinstated funding for a University of British Columbia program that independently assesses the effectiveness and safety of drugs covered under the provincial Pharmacare program.

The province suspended the contracts for the Therapeutics Initiative in September 2012, and launched a review of potential privacy breaches involving medical information.

The Health Ministry says all of the recommendations from privacy commissioner Elizabeth Denham have been put in place, as well as the recommendations from a data security review by Deloitte.

Among the changes, 280 ministry personnel have received mandatory privacy and data security training.

Beginning later this fall, all contractors and researchers using ministry data will have to have similar training, and random audits will be conducted on how researchers use health data.

UBC welcomed the announcement, saying the program will resume with improved protection for patient privacy.