Health Canada and provinces declined to regulate firm that supplied diluted drugs

TORONTO – The president of the company that supplied diluted cancer drugs to five hospitals in Ontario and New Brunswick says both Health Canada and provincial regulators declined to regulate it.

Marita Zaffiro says Marchese Hospital Solutions never attempted to operate without regulatory oversight and mixed the drugs under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist.

She says the company asked Health Canada and the Ontario College of Pharmacists for approval, but both declined.

She says the products were mixed properly as per their contract with MedBuy, an organization that made bulk purchases for hospitals.

Marchese Hospital Solutions has been under scrutiny since it was discovered that 1,200 patients received watered down chemotherapy drugs purchased from the company.

The province and Health Canada have since acknowledged that there was no oversight of the company and don’t know how many others like Marchese are operating in Canada.