Canada boosts investment to combat AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria

Rx&D, the Canadian research-based pharmaceutical industry association has welcomed the government’s investment plan unveiled in the federal budget on February 26, 2008. The Canadian government also intends to boost research and innovation in Canada by investing a further C$440 million in its 2007 Science and Technology Strategy over the next two years. Of this, $80 million will be used annually for university research on health priorities.

As per the budget plan, the government will extend by three years an accelerated capital cost tax allowance. This is expected to provide the manufacturing sector with an additional $1 billion in tax relief and help it attract private sector investment. But the non-prescription drug manufacturers association (NDMAC) criticized the government’s decision to exclude non-prescribed therapies from the Medical Expense Tax Credit, which it believes would drive Canadians towards more expensive and publicly financed forms of treatment rather than the more affordable forms that are currently available.