Alberta moves closer to donating imported children’s drugs to Ukraine

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Alberta has donated money to Ukraine, and the supply of 1.4 million bottles of children’s painkillers imported from Turkey is unclear, and although it is unclear, there are still things to be met as the drug approaches its expiration date.

On Thursday, Health Canada told Postmedia that it had responded to Alberta’s request to donate the product to war-torn countries last month.

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“After a thorough review of Alberta’s demands, Health Canada sent a letter not to oppose Alberta’s donation of its remaining Turkey-authorized supply of children’s painkillers,” its statement said.

The letter dated March 10 also asked Alberta to ensure that these drugs are sold or donated for humanitarian purposes only, without violating Ukrainian laws, including import approvals, and that logistics and quality supervision is supervised by compliant drug establishment license holders.

Health Minister Adriana Lagrange’s office said in a statement that it is still working to complete the details to comply with these conditions and will provide more information, “in the coming weeks.”

AHS said in a statement that it has been researching potential donations but has not finalized the agreement.

It noted that Turkish manufacturer Atabay is seeking a drug establishment license, but AHS is not part of the process and therefore cannot provide more details.

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Last month, Prime Minister Danielle Smith told reporters that an unidentified third party had donated the drug to Ukraine.

The Canadian health partner said in a statement that it is the only Canadian charity that Health Canada handles donated medicines and that the deal has not been completed, despite its discussions with the Alberta Health Service (AHS).

“We have discussed with the AHS that possible donations of ibuprofen and acetaminophen, but so far, no agreement has been reached.”

According to internal documents previously obtained by Postmedia, import supplies will expire immediately after nine months between January 2026 and March 2026.

Atabay contract has not yet been fulfilled

By the end of 2022, the province agreed to a $70 million deal with Atabay to import 5 million bottles of acetaminophen brand Parol and ibuprofen brand Pedifen in the face of a then-Canadian shortage.

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However, less than a third of the goods arrived and after the shortage ended, most of the drugs that did arrive in Alberta were not used. The AHS told hospital staff to stop using Parol six months after arrival, partly because it could clog the tube.

The province had intended to make up for some of its expenses by selling some of its supplies to other provinces, but abandoned the program due to lack of interest and the focus on its dose was different from typical North American acetaminophen, but was more common in Europe.

Health Canada allows the import of Turkish drugs in 2023 due to special circumstances related to the shortage.

Since the end of the shortage, the province has been seeking to import parol IV, an intravenous adult painkiller, to achieve a balance with the Atabay contract.

According to Alberta Health, efforts to import Parol IV began in July 2023 and are still underway 21 months later.

It said that in January, Atabay was told that it had to resubmit its application to meet Health Canada’s requirements. It added that it is currently awaiting a Health Canada drug identification number, which will allow the product to be imported into Canada.

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Once this happens, Alberta Health says the drug will be available within five years until the balance on the contract runs out.

mblack@postmedia.com

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