On March 6, 2025, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) announced that Thomas Digby stepped down from his role as Chairperson of the PMPRB. Vice-Chairperson Anie Perrault is now serving as acting Chairperson until the Governor in Council announces a permanent replacement.
On February 25, 2025, the PMPRB also published its latest expenditure report on private drug plan costs and utilization: Private Drug Plans in Canada: Expenditure Report, 2018–2023. Highlights from the report include:
- Higher-cost medicines ($10,000 or more) drove a 14.1% growth in private plan drug costs in 2023 and
- Private insurance now accounts for an estimated 38% of prescribed drug spending ($15.8 billion).
Separately, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) reported on March 11, 2025, that public drug program spending in Canada reached $18.4 billion in 2023, representing a 6.7% increase from 2022. According to the CIHI, individuals requiring high-cost drugs ($10,000 or more) comprise 45.3% of public drug spending overall, and drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes are the largest contributors to spending growth. Notably, the majority of this growth was attributed to rising demand for and spending on OZEMPIC (semaglutide), which reached $662 million in 2023 (up from $434 million in 2022).
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