Health minister promises to save Canadians billions on drug prices.

Health Minister, Jane Philpott said she plans to change Canadian regulations to force drug companies to lower their prices.She has promised that billions could be saved through changes.

Studies suggest that Canadian pays the second-highest drug prices in the world.

In an interview Philpott said, "There is no question that the current status is not fair, that it's not right, that we're paying much higher prices than other countries are and that's exactly what I'm working on."

The drug purchasing system in Canada is split between a public system funded by the provincial and federal governments for poorer, older and indigenous Canadians and a private system, mostly funded by employers, for working Canadians.

About 20 per cent of Canadians pay for their own drugs.

But if Canada had a single purchasing and negotiating agency, experts say there would be more leverage to negotiate better drug prices.

Philpott said,"Canadians are going to see that we are going to be able to save them in the order of billions of dollars per year."

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