Ontario. Drugs and Biologicals Service

• Drugs and Biologicals Service

• Ontario. Drugs and Therapeutics

• Ontario. Ministry of Health. Drugs and Therapeutics Branch

A drug testing programme was begun as early as April 1960 in order to ensure that drugs purchased on a generic basis by the Department of Health for patients in the psychiatric hospitals would be of a high standard of quality. In 1962 Professor G.H.W. Lucas of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Toronto was appointed as consultant to the programme. In 1963 the programme was expanded to cover drugs used by Tuberculosis Prevention Service as well.

With the Department's 1966 reorganization, the drug testing programme was brought under the Special Health Services Branch of the Public Health Division. Until 1967, the programme was operated by an informal committee. That year, however, a formal Drug Testing Committee was established, its eight members representing the different dimensions of the programme - purchasing, warehousing, and testing.

In 1968, the programme was given further administrative substance with its establishment as the Drugs and Biologicals Service (DBS), with A.E. Dyer as Chief. That same year, the Drug Testing Section of the Attorney General's Department was transferred to the Department of Health.

The Service's responsibilities were enlarged when it became involved in the Drug Quality and Therapeutics Committee (DQTC), established to evaluate prescription drugs sold in Ontario with the aim of preparing a Drug Formulary that could be used by medical professionals.

In 1973, the Drugs and Biologicals Service was renamed. Known as Drugs and Therapeutics, it was divided into six units: Drugs Quality and Therapeutics Committee; Pharmaceutical Product Assessment Services; Drug Testing Laboratory Program; Community Pharmacy Services; Institutional Pharmacy Services; Consultative and Advisory Services.

According to the Ministry's annual reports, responsibility for Drugs and Therapeutics seemed varuied through time; in 1973, and between 1974-1975, it reported to the Deputy Minister and Assistant Deputy of Health Services, respectively. By 1976, Drugs and Therapeutics became a branch and reported directly to the Assistant Deputy Minister of Administration and Health Insurance.

In 1979, Drugs and Threapeutics was split into the Ontario Drug Benefit Program (in the Health Insurance Division), and the Drugs and Therapeutics Advisory Service (in the Health Programs Division).

The Drugs and Biologicals Service was responsible for the quality assurance and cost control on drugs used in Ontario. It provided professional advisory services to the Ministry, the general public, the pharmaceutical industry, professional bodies, and government agencies and institutions.

RAD: Rules for Archival Description, 2nd edn (2008)

2026-11-16: migrated to AtoM

Not in Canadiana.

Annual Reports 1972-1974.

Government of Ontario Telephone Directories.

KWIC Index to Services of the Ontario Government.

Inventory for RG 10.

Archivist(s):
Fontaine