The province says its PharmaCare program now covers medications used to treat rare diseases such as A-L-S.
The Ministry of Health says the oral form of edaravone, which is used to treat A-L-S patients, will be added to the PharmaCare formulary as a limited-coverage benefit.
Two other drugs are also being added under the "Expensive Drugs for Rare Diseases" process.
Givosiran is used to treat A-H-P -- a metabolic disease -- while triheptanoin helps patients with rare genetic disorders.
About 7,400 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union have been off the job since Canada Day to back demands for improved wages and provisions against contracting out and automation. The mid-morning demonstration is organized by the union and billed as a solidarity rally, with members reminded that there is pride, strength and commitment in numbers.
The B-C Highway Patrol says it's investigating a deadly crash involving a pedestrian in the Okanagan over the Canada Day long weekend. Police say they were called to the crash around noon last Saturday, where a car hit a pedestrian in a crosswalk on Highway 97-A in Enderby, B-C.
Fraser Heath says a coming heat wave is set to hit B-C's Fraser Canyon, warning of temperatures forecasted to hit the mid-30s into the weekend. The health authority says Environment and Climate Change Canada's heat warning covers the communities of Lytton, North Bend, Boston Bar, Yale, Othello and Sunshine Valley.
One person is being treated in hospital for a non-life-threatening injury after a shooting in Surrey, B.C., Wednesday afternoon. Police were called to the 80 Avenue and Fleetwood Park area just before 6 p.m. for reports of two groups of men shooting at each other.
Yannick Bandaogo, 30, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and several attempted murder charges earlier this year. Several victims spoke before Justice Geoffrey R.J. Gaul of the B.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday, including the mother of the lone victim killed in the attack.
Health Minister Adrian Dix says the expanded Health Connect Registry, which launched July 1, aims to make it easier for B.C. patients to get a family doctor or nurse practitioner in their community by signing up for a primary-care provider.