Ottawa – The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) published today the 7th edition of its annual Meds Entry Watch report. The analysis finds that the number of new medicines launched in Canada is higher than the median for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries but falls below the median of the eleven PMPRB comparators, all of which have lower average patented medicine prices according to the PMPRB’s Annual Report, 2021. Most new medicines come to market with high treatment costs, and specialty medicines such as biologic, orphan, and cancer treatments continue to make up a growing share of the new drug landscape.
The Meds Entry Watch report focuses on medicines approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and/or Health Canada. This edition examines trends in the market for new medicines approved since 2016, highlighting the 50 medicines that received first-time market approval in 2020 and providing a preliminary analysis of the 55 medicines approved in 2021. The report also includes a section focused on medicines that were new to Canada in 2020 with an analysis of the rate of approvals per quarter over the past five years. This publication informs decision makers, researchers, and patients of the evolving market dynamics of emerging therapies in Canadian and international pharmaceutical markets.