CIHR/Health Canada Team in Policies for Equitable Access to Medications

The pharmaceutical sector is an increasingly important domain of the health system. It is also a complex policy area due to changing technology and overlapping (federal/provincial) government responsibilities. Because many of the policies in this sector are interconnected, achieving optimal outcomes requires clarity of policy goals and objectives, awareness of policy instruments and options, and understanding of policy impacts and interactions. Our Team can help with this. We have brought together 20 leading researchers to work with decision makers from federal and provincial governments and experts from key national agencies to prioritize, initiate, interpret and synthesize pharmaceutical policy research. We will use the Emerging Team funds to invest in capacity-enhancing activities that -- despite enabling knowledge production, synthesis and transfer -- are generally unsupported or under-supported through project-based funding. These activities include (a) regular interactions among researchers and policy makers from a variety of disciplines and jurisdictions, (b) strategic research initiatives based on priorities identified and opportunities created through regular dialogue among research users and producers, (c) foundational research to rigorously synthesize bodies of evidence on priority policy questions, and (d) collaborative training initiatives involving leaders in policy and academia. Our overarching goal is to contribute to policies and practices that produce sustainable improvements in the level and distribution of the health of Canadians. We therefore will inform, enlighten and share understandings of pharmaceutical policies and practices through coordinated research, training and knowledge translation activities that have academic integrity and policy relevance.