When B.C. Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid leaves politics, she has a promising future as a mystery writer. More than two weeks have passed since her ministry fired five in-house drug researchers and suspended or cancelled the contracts of three more researchers at the University of Victoria.
Dismissals on this scale are virtually unheard of in the Canadian public sector. Yet throughout, the minister has refused to explain what's going on, other than some vague references to privacy concerns.
At a minimum, a closed-lips approach like this invites mischief. All sorts of rumours spring up, some of them unfair to the employees let go, many of them damaging to the ministry.
However, there are other casualties as well. Along with the terminations and suspensions, MacDiarmid froze $4 million in research contracts. She also cancelled electronic accounts that gave university researchers access to the ministry's data banks.
Last week, the minister suggested a small amount of that money may soon be released. But the overall impact of the funding cuts and the data withdrawal is devastating.
A few examples: Several thousand teenagers in B.C. take the drug Accutane. It's used to combat severe acne.
However, the medication is also known to cause birth defects if taken by pregnant women. Physicians are told to warn their female patients of this risk before prescribing the drug.
The problem is, no one knows whether these warnings are effective. Researchers were looking for an upsurge in birth defects among teenagers taking Accutane when their data access was cut off.
The drug Dabigatran is an anticoagulant used to prevent blood clotting. It is easier to work with than the alternative, Warfarin.
But last year, a group at the University of British Columbia warned that the drug had not been sufficiently examined for side-effects such as internal bleeding. And once it is administered, there is no antidote if complications arise. Researchers were trying to calibrate these risk factors when they were fired.
Numerous other research projects are also on hold. They include an investigation into the use of anti-psychotic drugs in children, a study of the tobacco-cessation medication Champix and the effect of cholesterol-lowering statins on patients with diabetes. In addition, a huge research project to support chronic-disease management has been halted.
If that were the end of the matter, we would simply have to wait and see what happens. Presumably the ministry will eventually get around to re-opening its doors.
But MacDiarmid's unwillingness to clear the air has caused both fear and suspicion in the university community. There has always been a natural tension between drug researchers and the pharmaceutical industry. No company wants to see questions raised about its products. The fallout can cost millions in lost sales.
In the past, governments in B.C. have valued independent drug tests and protected researchers from industry animosity. But since the Liberals were elected in 2001, a succession of health ministers have gone out of their way to side with the drug firms.
As a result, independent researchers have been sidelined and their access to ministry data cut back.
Whether intended or not, these layoffs and funding cuts could be mistaken for more of the same. In one sweeping action, the minister has devastated B.C.'s independent drug-review capacity and disabled the industry's critics.
A spokesman at UBC has already warned that the university will lose at least three of its best researchers if data access and funding aren't restored. In addition, the chilling effect of the minister's actions could make it difficult to attract top-rated drug experts in future.
It's still possible that MacDiarmid had legitimate reasons for this purge. If so, the sooner she announces them, the better.
