The Ontario government has delayed the implementation of its new generic drug policy until mid-June. (CBC)

A sudden delay in eliminating fees that pharmacies receive from generic drug companies has nothing to do with the province's fight with the industry, Health Minister Deb Matthews said Tuesday.

The regulatory changes, which would eliminate the $750 million a year in so-called professional allowances that drug companies pay to pharmacies in return for shelf space, were supposed to take effect May 15 but have been put off until mid-June.

"We're taking the time it takes to make sure we get it right," Matthews said. "These are big changes. We want to do it right."

The minister insists she's not taking extra time to sweeten the deal with pharmacists, who've waged a very public war against the cuts.

The government won't go over the almost $300 million it has already put on the table as a way to soften the impact of the fee cuts, Matthews said. The money will go toward increasing dispensing fees, helping rural and northern pharmacies and paying pharmacists for new health-related services.

The Health Ministry is combing through about 50 detailed submissions that it received about the draft regulations to eliminate the professional fees, which it and others liken to kickbacks.

The only room for compromise in terms of compensating pharmacists for the loss is how the $300 million will be spent, Matthews said.

"We are absolutely eliminating professional allowances — that will not change," she said. "We are absolutely bringing down the price of generic drugs to 25 per cent of brand [price]."

Pharmacists want compensation for cuts

But for every $3 the province is taking away from pharmacists, it is only reimbursing them $1, claims Donnie Edwards, who owns an independent pharmacy in Ridgeway, near Fort Erie, Ont.

Pharmacists are still waiting to hear whether the government will meet with them to discuss a counter-proposal that would lower drug prices while providing a "full reinvestment" to dispensing fees, he said.

"Pharmacists are a bit confused because we're hearing that there's an extension, but nobody really has come forward to give us the exact details of what that extension is and why," Edwards said.

"We're glad to hear and pleased to hear the government did this extension, but that's not enough. We need to have meaningful discussions about real solutions that ensure the preservation of pharmacy as a hub of community health care."

A group of independent pharmacists are holding a news conference at the legislature Wednesday to discuss the impact the changes will have on health care.

Pharmacists want lower generic drug prices just as much as customers do, Edwards said, and they are willing to live without professional allowances, but they need to be fairly compensated.

Ontario pharmacists have asked the government for at least $260 million a year in direct funding to drop their opposition to the elimination of fees.

The Liberal government says Ontario pays much higher rates for generic drugs than many other jurisdictions and that eliminating the professional allowance fees will help lower the cost of prescription medications.