2005 PMPRB Annual Report

The 2005 PMPRB Annual Report was tabled in parliament on June 21, 2006. Some highlights from the report include the following:

Compliance and Reviews

• Two orders were issued in 2005 for "Failure to File" Form 2 information with Board Staff.
• 66 new DINs under the Board's jurisdiction as of 2005...of those 49 are within guidelines, 2 are still under review and 15 are under investigation.
• 74 existing DINs are not considered "within Guidelines" as of 2005
• A table (page 12) is presented comparing PMPRB review vs CDR review results of 35 brand products, 12 were reported as "not to list" by CDR and "within Guidelines" by PMPRB
• Leo Pharma has appealed the Board's Hearing Decision to the Federal Court of Canada

• Total pharmaceutical market grew from $15.9 billion to $16.1 billion in 2005 (1.3%), the lowest rate of growth in 15 years
• Sales of patented drugs increased by 5.5% to $11.5 billion, the lowest rate of growth in 12 years
• Average rate of price change in Canada 0.8% (measured as PMPI). CPI was 2.2%
• Ratio of Canada to Median international price is 0.92
• Taking Purchasing Power Parity into consideration (i.e after adjusting for international differences in cost of living), Canadian prices are 10% higher than international median prices
• Rate of growth of patented pharmaceutical utilization(PMQI): 4.5 in 2005 vs 21.2 in 1999

• The new proposed changes to the Regulations (Canada Gazette - Part II) are now expected to be published in "early summer" 2006
• Discussion Guide- Consultation with stakeholders to take place in November

• The first reprt on non-patented prescription drug prices due end of June 2006
• NPDIUS completed a number of reports which are published on the PMPRB Web site. Of interest is the "Pharmaceutical Trends Overview Report, 1997-1998 to 2003-2004" to be released in June 2006