The Canadian government has withdrawn and revised some of the drug pricing reforms it proposed in August 2019 in a move to limit the impact of the reforms on drugmakers.

As originally proposed, the reforms were expected to cut the pharma industry’s profits by $6.9 billion, but the new estimate is projected at less than a third of that amount.

“We are mindful that we need to have in Canada a strong pharmaceutical industry, especially given the lesson that we have seen through COVID-19,” said Canadian Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos.

In one surviving reform measure, starting July 1, Canada’s Patented Medicine Prices Review Board will no longer make price comparisons with countries with the highest drug prices and will include more countries in its benchmarking.