Question Period Note: Procurement of COVID-19 therapeutics

Public Services and Procurement Canada is working with the Public Health Agency of Canada, Health Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, along with the COVID Vaccine Task Force to procure COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutic drugs, and related supplies.

Notes:

• For all therapeutic solutions, questions about allocation and distribution should be directed to Public Health Agency of Canada
• For all therapeutic solutions, questions about regulatory approval should be directed to Health Canada
• All questions on donations should be referred to Global Affairs Canada and Public Health Agency of Canada

• While vaccination remains the best way to protect the public from COVID-19, therapeutics provide a variety of additional tools to our health care providers
  • Nine therapeutics have been procured and several deployed to provinces and territories for use in health care systems
  • As of mid-May 2022, PSPC has been able to secure orders for more than 2.27 million treatment courses for use in Canada of nine different therapeutics
  • Of note, Paxlovid, a convenient oral antiviral from Pfizer, has received regulatory approval by Health Canada, and a shipment of 323,000 treatment courses of a contracted 1,500,000 have already arrived in Canada and distribution to provinces and territories is ongoing
  • Given strong global demand for some of these therapeutics, Public Services and Procurement Canada has taken a very proactive approach, which has been very successful in securing the products for use in Canada
  • The Government of Canada also recognizes the outstanding achievements of the pharmaceutical industry in identifying, developing and producing promising therapeutics to treat COVID-19, and for their continued cooperation to help Canada make these products available for our citizens

If pressed on Molnupiravir:

• The Government of Canada has secured an order of Merck’s therapeutic drug Molnupiravir as part of our aggressive procurement strategy to ensure that Canadians have access to promising treatments
• The delivery and payment is contingent on the drug obtaining regulatory approval by Health Canada

Oral Antiviral Treatments

On January 7, 2022, Canada signed a contract with Pfizer for one million treatment courses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 oral antiviral therapeutic Paxlovid, for the treatment of COVID-19 symptoms, pending regulatory approval. On December 3rd, 2021, Canada awarded a contract to Merck for 501,120 courses of its Molnupiravir oral antiviral therapeutic for the treatment of COVID-19 symptoms, pending regulatory approval.

To date, Canada has received 323,000 treatment courses of Paxlovid and is expecting an additional 152,000 treatment courses to be delivered before the end of June. Further delivery schedules for Paxlovid are being confirmed, with the intent of bringing treatment courses into Canada as quickly as possible. A total of 1.5 million treatment courses of Paxlovid have been ordered and will be made available as soon as possible to help protect the health of Canadians.

A recent media article focused on Canada’s procurement of Merck’s drug Molnupiravir, and criticized the decision to procure this drug given evidence of low efficacy. The drug is still under regulatory review by Health Canada, during which process Health Canada considers efficacy. Canada is not under any obligation to purchase the drug until Health Canada has provided regulatory approval.

Injection Treatments

On October 20, 2020, Canada awarded a contract with McKesson/Gilead for the Remdesivir therapeutic drug for 24,825 treatments courses. An amendment for an additional 16,667 treatments was issued February 2022. As of mid-May, 40,000 have been delivered with an additional 50,000 ordered in April, 2022, with delivery starting in June, 2022.

On November 22, 2020, Canada awarded a contract of up to 26,000 doses of Eli Lilly’s antibody treatment, Bamlanivimab. Of those, as of mid-August, 17,000 have been delivered. The treatment was developed in partnership with Canadian company AbCellera, combining its advanced antibody therapy discovery platform with Eli Lilly’s manufacturing and distribution capability.

On March 12, 2021, Canada finalized an agreement with Roche Canada for the supplemental supply of Tocilizumab for the treatment of COVID-19 symptoms for a total potential order of up to 14,551 treatment courses (assuming 800mg per treatment), 12,000 (800mg) treatment courses delivered. Roche is managing supply to ensure that there is sufficient stock for on-label use in Canada and other countries.

On June 11, 2021, Canada awarded a contract with Roche for its Regeneron therapeutic drug for 9,000 treatments, and all deliveries have been received.

In October 2021, the Government of Canada awarded a contract to GlaxoSmithKline which has later been amended to add additional quantities, for the purchase Sotrovimab for the treatment of COVID-19. Total orders of 30,070 doses have been delivered.

On December 1, 2021, Canada awarded a contract to Merck for 501,120 courses of its Molnupiravir oral antiviral therapeutic for the treatment of COVID-19 symptoms, pending regulatory approval. So far, 0 have been delivered.

On February 11, 2022, Canada awarded a contract to Sanofi for its Sarilumab drug for 1,000 treatments and all have been delivered.

On February 14, 2022 Canada awarded a contract to AstraZeneca for its Evusheld drug for 100,000 treatments, pending regulatory approval. So far 49,000 have been delivered.

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