Patented medicine sales in Canada continue to grow as R&D expenditures hit a new low

11 December 2015

Jane Philpott, Canada’s Federal Minister of Health, yesterday tabled the 2014 Annual Report of the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) with the Clerks of the House of Commons and the Senate.

The following are the main findings of the report:

Sales of patented drug products in Canada increased by 3.1% in 2014 to C$13.7 billion ($10.26 billion). This was driven by greater sales of existing and new drugs, which offset a decrease in sales of drugs whose patents expired in 2014.
The average price of patented drug products in Canada was stable in 2014, increasing at a lower rate than inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, with no impact on sales growth.
Canadian prices were third-highest among the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board’s seven comparator countries in 2014, lower than prices in Germany and the USA, and higher than prices in France, the UK, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland.
Spending on pharmaceutical R&D in Canada declined to 4.4% for patentees and 5.0% for Rx&D member companies, the lowest rate since the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board began its reporting function in 1988.
A total of 1,363 patented drug products for human use were under the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board’s jurisdiction in 2014, including 103 newly reported drugs. Sales of patented drug products accounted for 59.6% of all drug sales in 2014.
In 2014, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board had 61 open investigations into excessive drug pricing.
Five Voluntary Compliance Undertakings were entered into in 2014, with over C$2.7 million in excess revenues paid back by patentees to the Government of Canada.
In January 2015, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board issued a Notice of Hearings in the matter of the Canadian price of the patented medicine Soliris(eculizumab) from Alexion Pharmaceuticals’ (Nasdaq: ALXN). Proceedings are ongoing.

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