Published in the Calgary Herald on Friday, February 29, 2008

Re: "Prescription for savings," Editorial, Feb. 23.

Right problem -- wrong solution. Alberta needs to address growing pharmaceutical costs, but they cannot be isolated as a silo in the health-care budget or addressed at the expense of health outcomes. How does Brian Mason balance his box store approach to purchasing drugs, with health outcomes for Albertans? Mason holds up New Zealand as the model to follow. In a decade of bulk buying and sole tendering there, New Zealand has reduced its pharmacare costs. But there is ongoing debate in New Zealand medical journals about the harmful and costly effects of switching stabilized patients to the bulk-purchased medications, and concerns about shortages of pharmaceuticals, inferior product quality, and increased costs in other parts of the health-care system.

When people don't get the right medicine, they tax the health-care system with the need for more doctors and hospital visits. Bulk buying is a one-size-fits-all strategy while medical science is moving toward personalized medicine which gets the right medication to the right person in the right dose at the right time. How can that happen when Mason wants us all to swallow the same pill?

Pharmaceutical policy comes with side effects. Best to do more thorough investigation before we move lemming-like to the bulk buy. When your editorial writer is faced with limited drug choice that interferes with his or her health outcome, will the recommendation to run with Mason's plan still stand?

Katharina Kovacs Burns, Edmonton

Katharina Kovacs Burns is a member of the Best Medicines Coalition.