JAY GOLDBERG: Canada’s drug review process continues to fail patients

Learn from the tragic example of Evan Armit

Published Jun 11, 2026  •  Last updated 5 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Ontario premier Doug Ford (left) and Minister of Health Sylvia Jones. Photo by Mike Hensen /Postmedia Network

See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source

Article content

A rising young hockey player lost his life just days after Health Canada finally gave the green light to a treatment that might have helped him beat the cancer that ultimately led to his death at age 23.

Article content

Recommended Videos

Article content

Evan Armit, from Dryden, Ont., was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma, a dangerous and very aggressive form of cancer. His only hope of fighting the disease was through what is known as TIL therapy, a cutting-edge treatment already approved south of the border. Unfortunately for Armit, that same therapy was still under review in Canada when he needed it. Sadly, this is a regular occurrence in Canada. It often takes years after drugs are approved in the United States for them to be approved by Health Canada and then become reimbursable at the provincial level.

In Ontario, OHIP has an out-of-country coverage program that allows patients to go elsewhere, often to the United States, to pursue treatment in extraordinary cases when that treatment is not available in the province. Armit’s family applied twice for this program to fund the treatment Evan needed in Boston, at a cost of between $750,000 and $1 million. Unfortunately, the requests were denied because the out-of-country program doesn’t cover instances in which drugs are currently under review for public coverage in Ontario.

Article content

Article content

The TIL therapy Evan could and should have received in the United States was not a silver bullet. It offers approximately a 30% rate of remission for melanoma patients. But for someone in Evan’s position, that could have offered him a major ray of hope and a fighting chance to beat his cancer. But, because of the glacially slow pace at which Canada’s health system and drug approval process operate, Evan never had the chance.

Evan’s case became so high-profile that Health Minister Sylvia Jones and even Premier Doug Ford were pulled into it. Jones’ office, when asked about Evan’s case, noted that Ontario cannot independently approve drugs when Health Canada hasn’t authorized them. Ford spoke to Evan’s father, offering him kind words but telling him to trust in the process. But Canada’s bureaucratic drug approval process failed the Armit family, just like it has failed so many other families desperately waiting to access cutting-edge drugs that have been approved elsewhere.

Article content

Canada’s drug approval process is fundamentally flawed. It shouldn’t take months, if not years longer, for Health Canada to approve a drug after it has been approved in peer countries like the United States. And drugs should automatically be approved and available for patients in every province once Health Canada gives them the green light. There’s no need for additional bureaucracies like Canada’s Drug Agency to make recommendations as to whether provinces should offer coverage for drugs that have been approved for use by Health Canada.

The Armit family, after Evan’s death, has advocated for Ontario and other provinces to have additional flexibility when it comes to funding cancer treatment out of the country, when every moment counts. The Armit family is right — these kinds of treatments ought to be covered. But that doesn’t get to the heart of the problem we have here in Canada.

Once Health Canada approves a drug, it should be available to patients in all provinces, full stop. The layers of bureaucracy that exist in our health-care system add additional roadblocks to treatment that patients like Evan and others simply didn’t and don’t have time for. Canada needs a patient-first approach to drug approvals, rather than allowing everything to be tied up in endless bureaucracy.

Stories like those of Evan Armit, or Jeremy Bray in Manitoba, serve as reminders that Canada’s health-care system must focus on patients, not bureaucracy. It’s time for our politicians to revamp the system to cut bureaucracy and genuinely put patients first.

Read More

1. 

   JAY GOLDBERG: Ontario joins the battle to end federal gun scheme
2. 

   JAY GOLDBERG: Time for Premier Doug Ford to stop poking the bear

Article content