By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Supreme Court of Canada dealt a blow to pharmacy chains on Friday when it upheld the province of Ontario's ban on drugstores' sales of their own private-label generic prescription drugs. Pharmacy companies saw the private-label drugs as a way to reduce the impact of Ontario regulations designed to lower the cost of generic drugs. The Ontario rules have weighed on the earnings of the drugstore chains, including Shoppers Drug Mart Corp, a principal appellant in this case. In the 7-0 decision, Justice Rosalie Abella noted that Canada spends more on prescription drugs per capita than almost any other industrialized country and she highlighted "Ontario's totemic struggle to control generic drug prices." She pointed out the proportion of government health care expenses that went for drugs had risen to 15.9 percent in 2010 from 9.5 percent in 1985.
via Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/canadas-top-court-upholds-ontario-ban-private-label-155425708--sector.html
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