Diabetes Canada welcomed news today that the government of Prince Edward Island (PEI) will add six new drugs to the provincial formulary, including two medications for people living with diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
“Enhancing access to essential medications will help improve the immediate quality of life for Islanders living with diabetes and may decrease the likelihood of future interventions to treat the serious complications of the disease,” says Jake Reid, National Director of Government Relations for Diabetes Canada.
Many Canadians rely on public drug programs to obtain the treatments they need to manage their medical conditions. Public coverage of medications such as the ones now added to the PEI formulary (Jardiance and Synjardy) varies across Canada, and is based on factors such as age, income and treatment type. These medications and others are also recommended in Diabetes Canada’s Clinical Practice Guidelines to benefit people with Type 2 diabetes and established cardiovascular disease.
“This is an important step to removing barriers to accessing evidence based treatment for Islanders living with diabetes,” says Reid. “We will continue to encourage the government to address the burden of the disease by implementing a renewed diabetes strategy.”
Diabetes Canada is urging all governments to support a nation-wide strategy to reduce diabetes risk and improve management. The Diabetes 360° framework includes specific evidence-based recommendations in the areas of prevention, screening, treatment and patient outcomes for diabetes. Thousands of Canadians have already signed the petition to show support for this strategy in advance of the upcoming federal election.
Today, 47,000 Islanders are living with diabetes or prediabetes and that number will grow to 56,000 in the next 10 years. Every eight hours another Islander is diagnosed with diabetes, costing the health-care system $17 million in 2019.
Author: Sherry Calder
Region: Prince Edward Island