Alberta Prime Minister Daniel Smith and health minister Jason Copping speak in Edmonton on December 6, 2022.Jason Franson/Canadian report
The government of Alberta Prime Minister Daniel Smith signed a $70 million contract in 2022 to import child pain relief medicines from Türkiye.
Briefing Notes Created by Alberta Health Authority in November 2022 Then Minister Jason Copping and Smith outlined three options to import five million pediatric ibuprofen and acetaminophen from Atabai’s medicine amidst the North American shortage of child painkillers. The documentation detailed the drawbacks of each path.
The government has chosen the most dangerous option. Signing a contract to import medicine before receiving regulatory clearance from Health Canada.
The state of Alberta explained that it has signed a contract for five million bottles (about eight times the state’s annual demand), according to figures listed in the briefing document.
Alberta spent $70 million plus shipping on the drug, but only received 1.5 million bottles of medicine. The province is currently planning to send unnecessary Turkish supplies to Ukraine.
Edmonton-based MHCARE Medical has promoted import contracts. The company holds $49.2 million in state medication payments “a significant one year or more” according to a letter from the Alberta Health Department.
The original contract is now a significant part of the allegations included in the unlawful dismissal lawsuit by former AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos of inappropriate contracts and procurement practices at the government ministry AHS and Alberta Health. None of the claims have been tested in court.
The RCMP, an Alberta auditor and former judge on behalf of the government, is investigating aspects of Mentzelopoulos’ allegations.
When the Prime Minister and the Health Minister announced the contract in December 2022, the government wanted to help families by alleviating shortages of cold and flu medications in pharmacy shelves and hospitals. Politicians were offered three options to achieve that.
In a note to Copping on November 23, Alberta Health Authority, We recommend the most financially conservative choice: Alberta asked Health Canada to bring drugs, allowing federal agencies to distribute them nationwide. By choosing this plan, Alberta was able to dodge the risk of paying unnecessary amounts of medication and being stuck.
“Based on public data identifying the number of pediatric patients in the state, 5M bottles are an oversupply to the market and are likely to expire before the product is available,” the document warned. “This could result in a significant loss of funds.”
The document advising the Prime Minister on November 25th supported the second option. Alberta is only pursuing import contracts, but only after obtaining the necessary approval from Health Canada. The briefing note warned that approvals may not occur until demand tapers and periodic supply increases. Copping is listed as a contact at the bottom of the document advising the Prime Minister.
Both of these options are designed to pursue contracts to satisfy Smith’s desire to resolve drug shortages while reducing Alberta’s financial risks.
However, the government chose the third pass included in both briefing memos. Alberta signed a contract to buy five million medical bottles before obtaining approval from Health Canada.
The briefing note warned that if Alberta chooses this option, it could result in either too many, too late or little or no medication despite prepayment.
“There are risks to do [Health Canada] Rather than approving the cargo for any reason, these funds will be forgotten,” the document addressed to the Prime Minister warned about the necessary down payment.
On December 1, 2022, Copping signed an order to “take all necessary measures” to the AHS, raising it with all the funds provided by the government to children acetaminophen and ibuprofen.
A few days later, on December 6th, Smith and Copping announced a contract to import children’s medicines. This was one of Smith’s first major announcements after becoming prime minister thanks to a victory in the United Conservatives’ leadership race two months ago.
The Prime Minister said he is confident that the federal approval process will move quickly. Alberta had planned to recover some costs by selling the drug to pharmacies, albeit at the subsidy price. They also wanted other states to buy some bottles.
However, stocks did not arrive until the shortage was eased. In May 2023, health officials considered acetaminophen a risk to neonatal patients when administered via feeding tubes, and by July 2023 the hospital had returned to standard supply use.
Alberta had distributed 15,600 drugs to hospitals and pharmacies by the end of the year, according to a public summary dated January 30, 2024.
Copping, who lost his seat in the 2023 election, did not respond to a request for comment.
Health Minister Adriana Lagrange said in a statement Monday that Turkish drugs were purchased with “the best intentions.”
“The Alberta government acted out of compassion and concern when no child’s medicine was found on the shelf,” Lagrange said.
Gregory Bentz of Sam Mraiche, MHCARE’s lawyer and owner, said his client was not involved in the discussion that led to the drug decision.
“Our only involvement was to promote the orders ultimately placed by the AHS,” he said in a statement.
