"If high-level officials at the FDA are interested in the new use of a drug, they should lead with evidence, not with approval, and outline a process to ensure decisional integrity."

@sfu.ca is hiring Canada Impact+ Research Chairs. Research areas include health, including biotechnology; clean technology and resource value chains; environment, climate resilience and the Arctic; democratic and community resilience. Candidates must full Profs or Associate 2 years from promotion.

Classic yet alarming: the federal govt just posted in the Canada Gazette a proposal to fundamentally change drug regulation as we know it. Here's the link to the Gazette: gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/202...

Important article by @timbousquet.bsky.social today in @halifaxexaminer.ca (as well as linked oped by Kate Ashley of Acadia + @aawayne.bsky.social) about very troubling move by NS govt decision to hire a private consulting firm to evaluate university performance.

Thrilled to see this paper led by Ipek Erin Vural out in Social Science & Medicine In it, we reflect on how regulators both collaborate + compete with one another, mediating the tension between capital accumulation + public trust that sits behind regulation. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Still incredibly disappointing that Canada can look at the consequences of aid cuts by other countries earlier this year, and then not only put out a budget that slashes $2.7 billion from international assistance, but put that $2.7 billion in a column labelled "savings".

TODAY! "Making the State Do the Right Thing: a Decade of Jordan's Principle Litigation" w/ David Taylor 🕛 Time: 12:10 - 1:20 PM 📷 In-Person: Weldon Law Building, Room 104 dal.ca/faculty/law/ @schulichlaw.bsky.social

CUSMA vs the USMCA / A short thread. As many pundits have pointed out amidst trade tensions + tariffs between Canada and the US, it's important to keep an eye on the prize, i.e. the upcoming negotiations over the trade deal between Canada, the US, and Mexico. In Canada, we call it 'CUSMA'.

👀 Vive la France (if this passes)!! What an incredible precedent this would set.

Buried in an Annex to yesterday's federal budget was a very curious statement about the #PMPRB, Canada's drug pricing regulator. In order to cut costs by 15% (as almost all federal agencies have been mandated to do), the Board would 'modernise its hearings': budget.canada.ca/2025/report-... 1/4

Bad to much worse: www.statnews.com/2025/11/03/g... When NYT broke news of Tidmarsh's leave, it seemed maybe he was being retaliated against for criticizing commissioner's vouchers. Now it seems he may have used his FDA role for personal vendettas+possible extortion. The civil complaint is shocking.

100%

For those attending the #BuildingBridges conference in #Amsterdam, I’m re-upping this recent paper documenting the challenges with conditional approval mechanisms. It’s US-focused but insights relevant abroad. academic.oup.com/healthaffair... Cc @elstorreele.bsky.social @fatimahassan.bsky.social

The generic version of Trikafta, cystic fibrosis drug, costs $6,375 for a child and $12,750 for an adult per year, compared with a list price that exceeds $300,000 annually in the U.S. www.statnews.com/pharmalot/20...

Mere minutes away! Join us if you’re in the HRM.

This is a fantastic, well-supported 3-year post-doc in our Division of Medical Ethics at Penn. Please share (and apply if interested!)

Thrilled to welcome @roojinhabibi.org to @schulichlaw.bsky.social tomorrow!

Great thread, summarizing our work on J&J's Advac and the perils of what we term 'platform thinking'!

What he said. And I hope that #HESA will hear *evidence* on how attempts to throw $$ at #bigpharma or make industry friendly policies have failed to attract a larger industry presence. Time for some fresh thinking about how to create/sustain a reliable/affordable supply of essential medicines!

Just published in Social Science & Medicine! Led by @sariahmed.bsky.social + @cmorten.bsky.social we interrogate how 'platform thinking' constrains not only pharma companies like J&J but also science more broadly. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A little over 90 minutes from now! @marthapaynter.bsky.social is not to be missed. Join us.

TOMORROW! "Not Lawless at all: Abortion in Canada" w/Martha Paynter 🕛 Time: 12:10 - 1:20 PM 📷 In-Person: Weldon Law Building, Room 104 dal.ca/faculty/law/ @schulichlaw.bsky.social

I'm hiring a Legal Research Fellow! dal.peopleadmin.ca/postings/19632 CC @roojinhabibi.org @drximebena.bsky.social @elstorreele.bsky.social @cmorten.bsky.social @gregggonsalves.bsky.social @reshmagar.bsky.social @hollylynchez.bsky.social @akapczynski.bsky.social @fatimahassan.bsky.social

Our FIRST seminar of this academic year - THIS FRIDAY! "Not Lawless at all: Abortion in Canada" w/Martha Paynter 🕛 Time: 12:10 - 1:20 PM 📷 In-Person: Weldon Law Building, Room 104 dal.ca/faculty/law/ @schulichlaw.bsky.social

Pssst....I'm hiring a Research Fellow to work on 'infectious disease innovation governance'. If you have legal training and you're interested in issues of access to medicines & global health, please consider applying. Details at the link below (Nov. 3 deadline): dal.peopleadmin.ca/postings/19632

Ottawa abusing access to information law to avoid releasing documents, watchdog says. The Information Commissioner is calling on the government to stop relying on legal exemptions she says are overused. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art... via @theglobeandmail.com #FOI #SecretCanada

🚨@WorldBank's mission is to fight poverty, yet @IFC_org is funding high-end unaffordable hospitals & exacerbating inequality? This approach will not deliver on the WBs target to reach 1.5 billion with access to quality healthcare! #UHC #PeopleOverProfits www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Live in the Halifax area but concerned about global health? This talk on Thursday featuring @stephanienolen.bsky.social is NOT to be missed!

New paper alert! Led by @hollylynchez.bsky.social we report findings from interviews with reps from @fda.gov, pharma, patient orgs + payers about the challenges involved in securing rigorous safety/efficacy evidence re: drugs granted accelerated approval. See the thread below for details.

Good morning America. Happy Monday. And #RFKJr still needs to go. Now. My piece in @thenation.com last week. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

This is a fake account and pure misogyny. I’m at a complete loss.

Paul Magennis and Kim Carlson continue to do great work responding to irresponsible journalism spreading myths, mis-, and disinformation about MAiD in Canada.

I got to talk with Gianna Ferrarin (‪@law360.bsky.social‬) about the new FOIA case my clinic is litigating (PrEP4All v. HHS & DOJ), 7 years (!) of work with @prep4allnow.bsky.social on PrEP patents, and my path from science to practice to clinical teaching. 🔗: www.law360.com/healthcare-a...

Incredible piece of work by Andy Hill & colleagues showing that #Lenacapavir could be made for just $25 yet the company marketing it will charge $25,000 per patient www.theguardian.com/society/2025....

@stephanienolen.bsky.social's piece on the destruction of the South African biomedical research effort by the Trump Administration is a must-read. Please circulate. This is a disaster for South Africa AND the world. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/h...

Just shy of 3 years ago the BC gov settled its case against #PurduePharma. In addition to the $ secured, "additional benefits" in the form of "access to information + documents" were promised to be made public. Has any of that info ever emerged? Asking for a friend news.gov.bc.ca/releases/202...

#SaferSupply an effective treatment tool despite political backlash. New study shows safe opioid supply more effective than opioid agonist therapies, by @maddidellplain.bsky.social healthydebate.ca/2025/06/topi... via @healthydebate.bsky.social

Wow, and among the questionable folks that replaced them is Robert Malone, a scientist who still appears to be bitter for -- in his words in the article in @nature.com below -- being "written out of the history" of mRNA. Talk about an agenda. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

🌍Transparency in the pharmaceutical sector is not only a matter of democratic accountability — it’s a global health imperative. 📅Join us on June 12th for an online event exploring how civil society is advancing pharmaceutical transparency with cases from South Africa, Colombia, and Spain

Must Read: Law & Global Governance of Infectious Disease: Access to Medicines on COVID, AIDS, & Beyond Via: American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics Journal Cambridge Univ. Press @ASLMENews Matthew Kavanagh Luis G Abinader Fatima Hassan Eric Friedman Link: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Quick follow up thread: It is always baffling *at first* to learn that an important health intervention like an Ebola therapeutic - substantially developed by the public sector - has been licensed exclusively to a private company..../1

Yuanquiong Hu from @msf.ca access walking us through the long road to Ebola therapeutics, detailing how publicly funded science came to be privately controlled.

Andy Hill breaking down, with gut wrenching clarity, the difference between the price (charged by big pharma) & (far lower) cost of making medicines @itpc.bsky.social

Powerful + troubling new paper by Spithoff et al. in @jama.com Network Open re: the commodification of health data in Canada -- Physicians and governments are complicit in this. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

A tour de force by Doug Clark, longtime federal civil servant with deep knowledge of everything that's (NOT) happened on the pharmacare file. dclarka175.substack.com/p/waiting-fo... CC @janephilpott.bsky.social @picardonhealth.bsky.social @healthlawadamh.bsky.social @steveubc.bsky.social

Trump’s Next Tariffs Target Could Be Foreign-Made Medicines. President wants to bring pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the U.S. Experts warn that tariffs could result in shortages and higher prices for generic drugs, by Rebecca Robbins www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/h... via @nytimes.com

Anger & tbh also a lot of fear.

Does anyone else hear that sound? As US government funding disappears from America's universities, big pharma funding is whooshing in. And universities are welcoming it with open arms, no questions asked. ps. It's happening in Canada, too, just on a much smaller scale.

📄 To learn more, you can read the full legal brief 👇🏼 docs.google.com/document/d/1...