/R E P E A T -- Media Advisory - Patients in the 'Fight for Our Lives' call on Parliament to STOP the PMPRB!/

As the world comes together to fight coronavirus, Canadians with life-threatening rare and common diseases will march on Parliament Hill to ask for the same support in the 'Fight for Our Lives'

OTTAWA, March 9, 2020 /CNW/ - THE ISSUE: The federal government's draconian new patented drug pricing rules to be implemented by the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) prevent life-saving treatments from coming to Canada. It's already happening – remarkable new treatments for cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease are now available elsewhere but haven't even been filed for approval here.

THE EVENT: The Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders (CORD) is leading a contingent of Canadian patients with rare and common diseases to Parliament Hill to "Fight for Our Lives" and to deliver one common message to their Members of Parliament: "Stop the PMPRB!" 

WHEN: Tuesday, March 10, 2020, at 12 pm

WHERE: Centennial Flame, Parliament Hill, Ottawa

Leaders of CORD and representatives of Canadians with cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease are available to explain the crisis facing Canadian patients.

"The federal drug price controls are a death sentence for many patients." – Chris McLeod, Chair of the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Treatment Society and a CF patient.

"For decades, there have been no effective treatments for sickle cell disease. We now have a revolutionary new drug that can prevent the root cause of the disease, but it won't be made available to Canadians any time soon." – Biba Tinga, President and Executive Director of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of Canada.

SOURCE CANADIAN ORGANIZATION FOR RARE DISORDERS (CORD)

For interviews and media enquiries: Don Sancton, Senior Associate, 3Sixty Public Affairs, [phone], [email protected]