The government of Ontario is expected to further decrease the price of generic prescription drugs, and the impending inventory legislation is forcing independent pharmacies to consider reducing their workforces and decreasing palliative care services, the Toronto Star reports.

Janet McCutchon, who owns an independent pharmacy in Thunder Bay, expects the 5 percent decrease in price (from 25 percent of brand-name equivalents to 20 percent) to cost her business "tens of thousands of dollars," according to the news source.

What's more, the change may force pharmacy owners like McCutchon to sell generic prescription drugs for less than what was paid for them.

Darryl Moore, chair of the Ontario Pharmacists' Association, noted that inventory compliance legislation requires pharmacies to provide generic drugs unless instructed otherwise by a patient or physician. He described the percentage cut as "a huge hit to all pharmacies," as quoted by the media outlet.

Canada and the United States recently grappled with pharmaceutical inventory issues of a different kind thanks to the shutdown of Sandoz Canada - the generic drug subsidiary of multinational pharmaceutical company Novartis - after the plant failed inspections by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.