EU Proposal Would Add Billions To Canada’s Drug Bills: Study
Posted February 7, 2011 10:56 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Changes to Canada’s drug patent system proposed by the European Union would add about $2.8 billion a year in costs to the country’s prescription drug bill, a new study concludes.
The study released Monday was commissioned by the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association, which represents Canada’s generic pharmaceutical industry.
The EU has tabled proposals as part of a Canada-EU trade deal being negotiated that would lengthen the period of market exclusivity for brand-name drugs in Canada, a release on the study said.
That deal would result in the most extensive structural protection for innovative drugs of any country in the world, the study found, but would not lead to a substantial increase in investment by brand-name drug companies in Canada.
It would, however, delay the availability of generics in the Canadian market by about 3 1/2 years, said the study’s authors — Aidan Hollis of the University of Calgary’s Department of Economics and Paul Grootendorst from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Pharmacy.
The study projects that the annual prescription drug bill for Ontario would increase by $1.2 billion, while in Quebec the increase would be about $773 million. In B.C., costs would jump by $249 million, $212 million in Alberta, and $95 million in Nova Scotia.
Manitoba’s costs would climb by $80 million, Saskatchewan’s by $72 million and New Brunswick’s by $52 million; the cost in Newfoundland and Labrador would jump by $46 million, $10 million in P.E.I., $2.6 million in the Northwest Territories and $2 million in the Yukon.
The projected added costs would be borne by the provincial governments, employers that sponsor drug plans for employees and patients, the study said.
