The Ontario government has initiated a number of new processes to speed up decision making and increase access to drugs in this province, including :

• A Rapid Review Process that permits rapid funding decisions for breakthrough drugs for life-threatening conditions
• A new Conditional Listing category that allows patients to access new drugs on a conditional basis while further information is collected to support a permanent listing
• An Exceptional Access program that works as a safety valve for certain patients when they can't access a drug in any other way

The government has also strengthened the transparency and accountability around funding decisions for drugs by :

• Appointing an Executive Officer to manage the publicly-funded drug system, including making listing decisions, publicly communicating listing decisions and working more closely with stakeholders
• Giving patients an active role in drug listing recommendations by appointing two patient representatives to the Committee to Evaluate Drugs (CED). Patient representatives will soon participate on the CED/Cancer Care Ontario subcommittee
• Generating more transparency by publicly reporting on CED recommendations and Executive Officer decisions.

To find out more about how decisions are made at the federal and provincial levels, please read through the information provided on :

• The Common Drug Review (CDR) Process
• Ontario Drug Benefit (ODB) Review Process
• New Chemical Entity or Combination Drug Products
• Types of listing recommendations
• Generic drugs
• Formulary