Eighteen new drugs, many of them for fighting cancer, will be added to P.E.I.'s drug formulary on March 1, the government announced Thursday — a move that will save many families thousands of dollars.

'This is a culmination of a lot of hard work.'— Sheila McMurdo, daughter of cancer patient

Health Minister Doug Currie estimates this announcement will have an immediate positive impact on 1,200 Islanders.

"When you hear stories about families tapping into their lifetime savings, when you're talking to families who are taking second mortgages on their house, you know as a minister that you have to act," said Currie.

Health Minister Doug Currie is promising faster approval of drugs. (CBC)

About 33 per cent of Islanders live without private health insurance. It's those people who are most likely to be helped by this announcement. While drugs not on the approved list might be prescribed, there is no chance of the cost being covered by the government.

Once a drug is on the list, it is possible for some people without insurance to have costs covered.

"We're happy," said Sheila McMurdo, whose father is suffering from liver cancer and needs a drug that is on the newly approved list.

"We feel like this is a victory. Not just for our family. This is a culmination of a lot of hard work and support from a wide range of people and organizations. We're just excited. It's late coming. We're the last province in Canada to add this drug. But we'll take late over never."

Treatment costs out of reach

Each treatment had been costing MacMurdo's father $7,000. She and her family worked hard to hear this announcement.

There are still 52 drugs waiting for approval on P.E.I. (CBC)

"We started lobbying right away," she said.

"We wrote letters to every politician we could think of, we appealed to the drug company to see if they would cover it, and we met with some of the politicians and some of the members of cabinet."

Dawn Binns, executive director of the P.E.I. chapter of the Canadian Cancer Society, noted the news about having cancer is sometimes not as devastating as the news of what the treatment will cost.

"As one gentleman said to me, 'I thought telling my children I had cancer was going to be the hardest thing I had to do. When, in fact, telling them I couldn't afford the treatment I need, was something I couldn't do. I walked around with the prescription in my pocket for weeks,' " said Binns.

The addition of the drugs to the formulary will cost the province $1.6 million a year. While the province has been running large deficits, Premier Robert Ghiz said this announcement will help families who could not afford the drugs at all.

"In many cases, the medications that could help them happen to be out of reach because some of the most important drugs are currently not covered by our province," said Ghiz.

"Many of the medications are too expensive for most people to purchase."

The drugs included in this announcement cover various forms of cancer, osteoporosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Even after this announcement, there are still 52 drugs on a list waiting for approval by P.E.I.

Currie said he's committed to speeding up the approval process. Prince Edward Island is one of the slowest province's in the country for adopting these medications.