The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that Canada's drug-price regulator has introduced new guidelines for evaluating pharmaceutical pricing. The Globe's Chris Hannay writes that the guidelines from the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board instruct staff to monitor drug prices and focus on specific cases, such as prices exceeding international averages or rising faster than inflation. The guidance is the final step of an effort launched by Ottawa in 2017 to reform and empower the PMPRB. In 2019, Ottawa announced a reform package for the PMPRB to access confidential drug pricing information and consider additional factors in price evaluations. However, the pharmaceutical industry opposed it with court challenges and lobbying during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lawyers at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin, writing on behalf of pharmaceutical companies Merck, Janssen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bayer and Servier, had argued that private insurers could use the complaints process as a tool during price negotiations with drugmakers. The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, which represents private insurers, said it was disappointed by the "unexpected decision" to remove their members from the complaints process.