News
High-cost specialty drugs continue to dominate the new drug landscape
June 26, 2018
Ottawa, ON — Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB), through the National Prescription Drug Utilization Information System (NPDUIS) research initiative, today published the second annual edition of Meds Entry Watch.
The report series, which provides the latest information on new drugs launched in Canada and select international markets, is designed to inform decision makers, researchers, and patients of the evolving market dynamics relating to emerging drugs. The 2016 edition of Meds Entry Watch identifies new active substances launched in 2015 and 2016, and analyzes their availability, pricing, and sales as of the end of 2016.
Important new drugs have been launched since 2009, accounting for nearly one quarter of brand-name drug sales in Canada by 2016. In line with trends observed from 2009 to 2014, the study found that high-priced speciality drugs such as those used to treat rare diseases, biologic drugs and oncology drugs, continue to dominate the new drug landscape in 2015 and 2016, both in Canada and internationally. The report also found that while Canada launched more new drugs than most OECD countries, it launched fewer than all PMPRB comparator countries, including many with lower average patented drug prices.
Meds Entry Watch is available on the PMPRB website in PDF and accessible HTML formats.
The next edition of this publication will continue to build on this analysis and provide further insight into the drugs introduced in 2016, along with an analysis of the drugs launched in 2017.
Quick Facts
- Orphan drugs are increasingly dominating the new drug landscape, representing 54% of new drugs entering the market in 2015 and 42% in 2016, a significant increase from the 33% average from 2009 to 2014.
- The number of oncology drugs continues to be high, representing 26% of the total new drugs in 2015 and 2016.
- Many new drugs come with a high cost, as 35% of those launched in 2015 were oncology drugs with a treatment cost exceeding $5,000 for a 28-day treatment, while 30% were non-oncology drugs with treatment costs exceeding $10,000 per year.
- In 2015, fewer drugs were approved for market in Canada than in the US and Europe. Canada ranked well in terms of sales, suggesting that the important higher-selling new drugs were launched in Canada.
- Between 2009 and 2015, Canada placed 11th in the OECD in terms of the number of new drugs launched, behind all the other PMPRB7 countries, many of which had lower average patented drug prices.
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Contacts
Marie-Eve St-Hilaire
Manager, Communications
Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
613-288-9664
Marie-Eve.St-Hilaire@pmprb-cepmb.gc.ca
TTY (telecommunications device for the hearing impaired) – 613-957-4373
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