Drug prices declining, PMPRB says
Manufacturers' prices for 86% of the best-selling patented drugs in Canada either stayed the same or declined during 1994, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) says. Its study, The Top 200 Selling Patented Drug Products in Canada, notes that on average the prices for patented drugs declined slightly for the first time. Sales of patented drug products, which had increased from $1.67 billion to $2.4 billion from 1990 to 1993, also declined slightly in 1994, to $2.39 billion. Sales of nonpatented drugs, including off-patent brand-name and generic drugs, increased 18%, to $3.55 billion.
Average Canadian prices were below median international prices in 1994 for the first time, the study said. Prices in Canada ranked below those in the US, Switzerland and Germany but above those in the United Kingdom, Sweden, France and Italy. The PMPRB said its study demonstrates that the prices of patented drug products are only one factor behind the rising cost of pharmaceutical products; other factors are the growth in volume of prescriptions and the prescribing of higher-priced substitutes.
| CMAJ July 15, 1996 (vol 155, no 2) |
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