High cost patented drugs now account for 50% of sales

March 25, 2021 — Ottawa, ON — Patented Medicine Prices Review Board

The Honourable Patty Hajdu, Federal Minister of Health, tabled the 2019 Annual Report of the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) with the Clerks of the House of Commons and the Senate.

The 2019 Annual Report outlines the continuing rise in the sales of high-cost drugs in Canada. Sales of patented drugs grew to over $17 billion in 2019. High-cost drugs remain the primary cost driver for Canadian public and private drug plans. In 2019, seven of the top ten selling patented drugs had annual treatment costs that exceeded $10,000/year.

The report also sets out other detailed information on the PMPRB’s regulatory activities; patentees’ compliance with the Board’s pricing guidelines; sales and price trends of patented medicines sold in Canada, including international price comparisons, trends in all medicine expenditures, and spending on pharmaceutical research and development.

The PMPRB is an independent quasi-judicial body that protects the interests of Canadian consumers by ensuring that the prices of patented medicines are not excessive and by providing information on pricing trends in the pharmaceutical industry. The PMPRB also supports informed and evidence-based health policy by reporting on medicine price, utilization and cost trends under the National Prescription Drug Utilization Information System (NPDUIS) initiative. яндекс

Quick facts

• 1,364 patented medicines for human use were reported to the PMPRB, including 81 new medicines.
• $3.5 million in excess revenues were offset by way of payments to the Government of Canada, in addition to price reductions.
• Sales of patented medicines in Canada reached $17.2 billion in 2019, an increase of 3.5% from the previous year.
• In 2019, high-cost medicines accounted for almost 50% of all patented medicine sales.
• Canadian list prices were fourth highest among 31 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, lower only than prices in Switzerland, Germany and the US.
• Patentees’ R&D-to-sales ratios were 3.9%, a slight decrease from 4.0% in 2018.