July 20,2025
RED FM News Desk
B.C. Premier David Eby is now openly discussing a major overhaul of the province’s secretive drug approval panel, following the controversy surrounding Charleigh Pollock—a 10-year-old girl from Langford with a rare brain condition.
Charleigh’s case drew widespread public attention and outrage after the province cut off funding for her medication. The NDP government later reversed that decision earlier this month. The backlash has prompted Eby to commit to reforming how the province handles approval for expensive drugs for rare diseases.
Eby specifically pointed to the need for changes to the Expensive Drugs for Rare Diseases committee, emphasizing that decisions should be made by medical experts in a transparent and publicly understandable way.
“In Charleigh’s case, it didn’t work,” Eby said Monday. “We had two groups of experts at odds—one very public, and the other a secretive committee within the Ministry of Health, communicating only through politicians. That’s not acceptable.”
Dr. Sandra Sirrs, who chaired a subcommittee on rare disease drugs and has since resigned, echoed calls for reform, saying decisions should be taken out of the ministry’s hands and put in the hands of physicians. While she opposed the province’s intervention, she agreed that greater transparency is needed.
“We’ll have to find a path forward,” Eby said. “I support the health minister’s decision to ensure this child wasn’t caught in a battle between experts, and I hope current and former committee members will help us build a better, more functional system.”
Since the government’s reversal, ten experts have resigned from the panel, with Dr. Sirrs alleging that political interference was behind the decision.
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