After many years of success, EvidenceNetwork.ca is no longer in operation. We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the organization over the past decade including our dedicated researchers, newspaper editors, readers and funders. However, now it is time to move onto new ways of looking at knowledge mobilization and policy. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact Shannon Sampert at s.sampert@uwinnipeg.ca.

Pharma

Advice for cold and flu season

Cold and flu season for many Canadians means getting ready to have their lives and routines thrown off by painful and annoying symptoms.  This can mean days off work or school dealing with sore throats, nasal congestion and fever. For parents, it can be challenging to try to comfort young kids with fever, coughing or […]

Too many bureaucratic hurdles for cannabis research

Researchers are studying cannabis for promising anti-seizure medication   We’ve lost many years of potentially important research on the use of cannabis as medicine because of polarized views of the “weed” among researchers, policymakers and the general public. On one side, there are those who see cannabis as a dangerous psychoactive drug that should be […]

Where do Ontario parties stand on drug coverage?

Medication access may help to decide an election for the first time in Canada — it is one of several prominent issues garnering public attention as Ontarians head to the polls June 7th. The Ontario NDP have pledged to publicly fund a short list of prioritymedicinesfor all Ontarians.  The PC party has said little about […]

Turning the tide on the harm of opioids

As clinicians, we are bound by professionalism and our ethical responsibilities to do no harm and to do what we can to address the pain and suffering of our patients. When powerful pain relieving opioid medications were introduced a few decades ago, they seemed to be a way to do both. We now know that […]

A tsunami of antibiotic resistance is coming—and Canada must take charge

At the beginning of the last century, illnesses due to bacterial infections ranked as the most common cause of death in Canada.  By the latter third of the century, the diagnosis, prevention and management of infectious diseases had advanced dramatically, raising hopes that many of these infections would be consigned to history. The dramatic improvements […]

Purdue Pharma given free reign in Canada as it is sanctioned in the United States

Opioid manufacturer admits to illegal activity in the United States but faces no penalties in Canada   Purdue Pharma recently announced that it will stop advertising opioids to doctors in the United States after pleading guilty to misleading marketing more than a decade ago. This is a major, albeit belated, departure from the company’s playbook […]

Your access to medications should not depend on your job

The MPs mulling options for publicly funding medications this week will likely take their sweet time. There is no rush for them because they already have the type of publicly funded access to medications that is being contemplated for other Canadians. While approximately three million Canadians do not take medications as directed because of the […]

Pharmacists, doctors warning seniors about risk of long-term use of sleeping pills

A version of this commentary appeared in the National Post, Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun  Sleep doesn’t come easy as we age. Take Ilsa; she is a 78-year-old recent widow. Since her husband passed away, she has slept poorly. A recent hospitalization and the disorienting bright lights and noises of the inpatient ward made her […]

Making sure our prescription medications are safe and worth taking

It’s time we stepped up our system of drug surveillance If you take prescription medications, what conditions do you take them for? Are they working for you? Have you experienced any negative side-effects from them? It may surprise you to know that answers to these critical health questions aren’t well documented for most Canadians. Yet […]

Canada needs a national drug surveillance system

Interviews with Dr. Robyn Tamblyn and Dr. Jenna Wong Medications can be life-saving. But they are only as good as our knowledge about them. The time is right for a national drug surveillance system to kept better track of our experiences with medications. Jenna Wong recently received her PhD from the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics […]