Canada must reject EU's demands for longer IP monopolies, says CGPA

New data on R&D spending in Canada by brand-name drug companies provides further proof that there is no link between longer market monopolies and increased investments. Demands for even longer monopolies in Canada must be rejected, Jim Keon, president of the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association (CGPA) said yesterday.

The latest annual report from the federal government’s Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB; The Pharma Letter June 25) shows that, in 2011, member companies of Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D) spent only 6.7% of their Canadian revenues on R&D in Canada. This marks the ninth consecutive year that Rx&D member companies have broken their promise to spend at least 10% of their domestic sales on R&D, the CGPA alleges.

The PMPRB also reports that total R&D expenditures by Rx&D members were lower in 2011 than in any year since 2000. Over the same period (2000-2011), sales revenues by Rx&D members increased dramatically from C$7.7-billion to C$13.5-billion. Total R&D spending by Rx&D members in 2011