Formulary Management Expert Committee (Interim)

The Formulary Management Expert Committee (FMEC) is an interim committee introduced as a pilot in fiscal year 2023-2024. FMEC is an appointed , pan-Canadian interim advisory body comprising individuals with expertise in drug therapy, drug evaluation, drug utilization, and economics. The committee will provide recommendations for our Non-Sponsored Single Drug Reviews, Streamlined Drug Class Reviews, and Therapeutic Reviews as requested by federal, provincial, and territorial drug plans and cancer agencies.

1. Non-Sponsored Reimbursement Reviews evaluate a single drug that is later in its life cycle with evidence to support the drug's use in a previously unfunded indication. 
2. Streamlined Drug Class Reviews focus on a drug class and consider new evidence that supports a change in place of therapy to inform drug reimbursement decisions. This type of review consolidates drugs into classes to minimize uncertainty and leverages well-conducted published network meta-analyses.
3. Therapeutic Reviews are evidence-informed reviews of publicly available resources regarding a therapeutic category of drugs or a class of drugs in order to support drug reimbursement decisions to encourage drug therapy optimization. These reviews most often necessitate the development of a network meta-analysis and a cost-utility model. 

FMEC is appointed by, and reports to, the President and CEO of Canada’s Drug Agency. Members must abide by the Conflict of Interest Policy and guidelines for Expert Committee and Panel Members and our Code of Conduct. An honorarium is paid to FMEC members for their preparation and meeting time.

• FMEC Terms of Reference
• Conflict of Interest Guidelines
• Code of Conduct  

Chair

Dr. Emily Reynen

Dr. Reynen completed both undergraduate and doctorate degrees in Pharmacy at the University of Toronto Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. Dr. Reynen obtained her medical degree from the McGill University Faculty of Medicine. She completed internal medicine and critical care subspecialty training at Queen’s University. Dr. Reynen holds certification in Internal Medicine and Critical Care Medicine from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the American Board of Internal Medicine.
Dr. Reynen practised as a primary care pharmacist at the Two Rivers Family Health Team in Cambridge, Ontario. She later worked as a clinical research officer for the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) and as a research co-ordinator at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael’s Hospital. Dr. Reynen has experience in systematic review, rapid review, and network meta-analysis methodology. Her research interests include comparison of research methodology, and quality improvement in the delivery of patient care. Dr. Reynen practices as a staff intensivist at Quinte Health Care Belleville General Hospital site and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Queen’s University. Dr. Reynen also sits as a member of the Ontario Committee to Evaluate Drugs.

Members

Valerie McDonald

Valerie McDonald is a former social worker who now works as a freelance writer and editor for health and social service organizations. She is a long-time patient advocate and currently serves on the Ontario Palliative Care Network’s Models of Care Pediatric Working Group and the Regulation, Policy & Economics Matrix of the Canadian Pediatric Cancer Consortium. For 6 years, she was a member of the Canada's Drug Agency pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review Expert Review Committee (pERC), representing a patient’s perspective during deliberations about new cancer medications, including some precision medicines.

Dr. Jim Silvius

Dr. Jim Silvius is a Clinical Professor in the Cumming School of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine, at the University of Calgary. At Alberta Health Services (AHS), he is the Senior Medical Director of Provincial Seniors Health and Continuing Care. He was the previous Provincial Medical Director of Pharmacy Services for AHS, a member of the Alberta Health and Wellness Expert Committee on Drug Evaluation and Therapeutics between 1999 and 2003, and Chair of that committee from 2004 to 2015. Jim is also a former member of the Canada's Drug Agency Canadian Optimal Medication Prescribing and Utilization Service (COMPUS) Expert Review Committee. Dr. Silvius maintains a clinical practice in geriatrics at Rockyview General Hospital. His other interests include dementia care, care delivery, and deprescribing at the Canadian Deprescribing Network (or CaDeN), where he is a Co-Director.

Dr. Marianne Taylor

Dr. Taylor did her medical training in Ontario. She completed her MBA at UBC in 2013 and a Masters in Healthcare Quality in 2017. Dr. Taylor has been a practising medical oncologist for 28 years. She held leadership positions at BCCA from 2004 to 2016. From 2012-2016 she was the VP of Systemic Therapy at the BCCA. At the BCCA one of her primary responsibilities was managing the provincial Cancer Drug budget. Dr. Taylor was chair of pCODR - PAG previously and now sits on pERC. She is the staff medical oncologist for the Drug Funding Sustainability project at the Canadian Association of Provincial Cancer Agencies.

Dr. Maureen Trudeau

Dr. Maureen Trudeau is Chair of the pan Canadian Oncology Drug Review Expert Review Committee. She is a medical oncologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, an Affiliate Scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute and Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Trudeau has been involved in practice guideline development for Cancer Care Ontario –Ontario Health and the American Society of Clinical Oncology for many years. She was a former provincial head of the Systemic Treatment Program for CCO and head of the Division of Medical Oncology and Hematology at Sunnybrook for 15 years. Her research interests include targeted neoadjuvant therapies and health services research in breast cancer, as well as the use of new drugs.

In 2019 she was awarded membership in the Academy of Master Clinicians in the University of Toronto Department of Medicine and more recently has taken on the role of a Clinical Faculty Advocate for the Temerty Faculty of Medicine.

Dr. Dominika Wranik

Dr. W. Dominika Wranik is a health policy and economics researcher, and a Professor in the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She considers many of the challenges facing our health care system to be due to insufficient or inefficiently used resources, including providers, technologies, and budgets. Dr. Wranik's research focuses on the application of economic principles in health care policies. She has been involved in Canadian Health Technologies Assessment (HTA) since 2007, when she joined a provincial cancer HTA committee in Nova Scotia. She has been involved with the Canada's Drug Agency pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review as an economic guidance panel lead (2015-2018) and as a member of the Expert Review Committee (2018 to present). She has published studies of HTA processes in Canada and Europe, in which she investigates the use of economic evidence in the presence of multiple evidence streams and uncertainty.

Hardit Khuman

Hardit Khuman is a clinical pharmacist working in a level 3 critical care unit at Quinte Health, Belleville General Hospital site. He completed his doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) at the University of Toronto Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and then went on to complete a hospital pharmacy residency (ACPR) at Kingston Health Sciences Centre. In addition to his clinical role, he serves as a member of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics committee and provides preceptor support for pharmacy students. His interests include applying real-world data to local clinical decision-making and evaluating new medications that on the market in Canada.

Dr. Zaina Albalawi

Dr. Zaina Albalawi is a clinical assistant professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and has a joint appointment with the Division of Population Health and Applied Health Science. She obtained her medical degree from King Saud University in Riyadh and an internal medicine and endocrinology residency subspecialty training at University of Alberta. Dr. Albalawi holds certification in internal medicine and endocrinology from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Albalawi practised as an endocrinologist at Alberta Health Services in Edmonton and Calgary. She currently practices in Newfoundland and Labrador in both endocrinology and internal medicine clinical teaching unit. She has experience in systematic reviews and guideline development. Her research interests include diabetes limb preservation and health care systems evaluation.

Dr. Bill Semchuk

Bill Semchuk is the director of Patient Care and Performance, Provincial Pharmacy Services, Saskatchewan Health Authority. He is a clinical assistant professor, College of Pharmacy and Nutrition and College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan. He is currently the co-chair of the Saskatchewan Health Authority Drugs and Therapeutics Committee and a member of the Drug Advisory Committee of Saskatchewan. He has long-standing practice experience in the care of patients with cardiovascular disease and thrombosis and maintains research and practice interests in these areas.