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Pharmacist Consultant for the Ministry of Health Services Tijana Fazlagic, BSP, M.SP
Find out more about her exciting career and contributions by clicking below My Job
Job Description I’m a jack of all trades. I’m part of the team that reviews drugs for PharmaCare coverage.
What’s a day in the life of your position like? Most days are hectic, but that brings certain excitement to the job. We deal with many drug submissions at a time and have to ensure that all submissions follow our process and all information is taken into account. Each submission goes through number of different stages and pharmacist’s involvement in required in many of those stages. In addition, I serve as an information resource to other branches of Pharmaceutical Services Division and work on projects, so I have to juggle competing priorities on daily basis.
What is the process for a drug to be approved for consumer use? How does a drug finally reach your desk? Well, I work in Formulary Management for the BC Provincial Government, which is the final stage before a drug is approved for provincial drug coverage. Drug manufacturers will do various development activities (testing, research, market analysis) to create drugs that are useful to consumers. Once they feel their drug is ready for patient use, it will go to Health Canada who will give it a Notice of Compliance (NOC). Once a NOC is granted by Health Canada, manufacturers can submit drugs for review by the Common Drug Review (CDR). The CDR is a national body which reviews certain drugs and provides coverage recommendations to participating jurisdictions including BC. Recommendations from the CDR come to the Ministry of Health Services and then the provincial review determines whether a drug will be covered by PharmaCare or not.
What’s a common drug review? The Common Drug Review is a national body that reviews clinical and cost effectiveness of new drugs, new combination products and old drugs with new indications and provides coverage recommendations to participating jurisdictions.
Are there specific drugs you review? We review almost any drug for coverage, but there are some exceptions. For example, cancer treatments are excluded from our reviews.
What exactly is sent to you when a drug is reviewed? Drug submissions that we receive have to follow Drug Review Submission requirements. For example, we receive budget impact analysis, clinical trials, some basic information from Health Canada describing what indication the drug was approved for, and a wealth of other information. There are no drugs that come to our office.
My Career
This is quite different from a typical pharmacist position, how’d you end up here? I wanted an exciting career. Although I love working in a community pharmacy, I was looking for a challenge. When I moved to Victoria six years ago, I kept an eye on the Ministry of Health Services jobs and I landed this one about four years ago and I couldn’t be happier.
What drew you to the job? Having a Master’s Degree, I wanted a job that provided wide range of opportunities and allow me to expand my skills. Having a family, I also wanted a job with regular hours. I wanted to contribute to health of BC population rather than the welfare of a few patients. This job was a natural fit for me. Pharmacists provide a great service to their community and they deserve the utmost respect, but this job makes me feel like I’m giving back to the entire province. This job is always changing, which keeps me excited about the work I’m doing.
What tools do you need to succeed at your job? Besides a pharmacy degree, you need to be very organized, able to multitask, and approach change with open mind. It’s an extremely stressful job due to tight timelines and your accountability to the public and their well-being.
What’s the best thing about your job? I get to do cool things. It’s never dull or monotonous.
My History
What’s been your career path thus far? I’ve worked at independent pharmacies, chain pharmacies, and pharmacies specializing in long-term care before landing my current job.
Major projects you’ve accomplished? So many of my projects are confidential, and I wish I could tell you about them! We’re working on a number of exciting ones right now. Recently, I worked on the formulary management database and drug review results webpage. Our team just received an award for innovation from the Ministry of Health Services.
Typical issues you tackle: Each drug submission is different and presents its own unique challenges. A common thread for all submissions is ensuring completeness of information and following established drug review path.
Hugest hurdle you’ve had to overcome in this job? Writing! As a pharmacist, I’m not required to write, but everything in this job has to be written and it has to be accurate and precise.
My Thoughts
What value does your job bring to BC? My work contributes to the drug review process to ensure that drugs covered by PharmaCare bring the best value to BC residents, both clinically and cost-wise.
Can you tell me a little bit about your home/personal life? I don’t have much of one right now since I’m working on my PharmD (Doctor of Pharmacy) which consumes most of my free time. Outside of my studies, I love to spend time with my family and travel. Actually, my studies allow me to travel quite frequently to Las Vegas and yearly to University of Florida’s main campus.
What do you think is in the future for BC? We’re working on the enhanced drug review process which will enhance the way we make decisions. The people of BC will continue to have access to drugs they need, and we’ll make sure it’s all sustainable and that the coverage will still be around 20 years down the road.
What is the value of Professionals to BC? Professionals in BC bring the right skill sets to their jobs to ensure quality work is done and best value is provide to people of BC.
What does the phrase Professionals Making a Difference in BC mean to you? To me, it means, that you’re bringing the people who are most qualified to do the job and make decisions in the interest of all of BC.
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