April 25th marks World Malaria Day – in recognition of the global efforts to eradicate the disease, and the challenges remaining.

In 2008, there were an estimated 250 million cases of malarial infection, which resulted in approximately 850,000 deaths worldwide.

Recently announced pharmacy reform in Ontario is a major step in redressing artificially high generic drug prices in Canada. Reforming Ontario's drug system will save Canadian consumers, employers and taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by eliminating kickbacks and rebates that have served to inflate the prices that consumers pay for generic drugs in Canada.

Counterfeit medicines are a growing threat to public health in Peru, according to a recent study published in the Pan American Journal of Public Health¹. Since 2005, the prevalence of counterfeit medicines has increased annually by an average of 45 per cent.

On Friday, March 5, 2010, over thirty Canadian health stakeholders (representing patients, providers, government, academics and industry) participated in a roundtable meeting to discuss the new paradigm of benefit-risk introduced in Bill C-51.