Canada ranks among the top 10 of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries for money spent on health (measured by both GDP per capita and percentage of GDP), yet it ranks 23 out of 29 in terms of public plan coverage of new medicines, the fourth annual Rx&D International Report on Access to Medicines 2009/10 (IRAM) finds.
“These findings will surprise Canadians,” says Russell Williams, president of Rx&D. “The IRAM report reveals that less affluent countries than Canada are finding ways to provide greater access to innovative medicines through their public drug plans. Our offer is to work with governments and other healthcare providers to promote innovation as a tool to improve patient health and build a more sustainable healthcare system.”
Canada ranks only ahead of Poland, New Zealand, Luxemburg, Spain, Japan and Turkey. Mexico, the Czech Republic and the Republic of Korea are just some of the countries that rank ahead of Canada.
More report findings
The IRAM report examines patient access to, and public coverage of, 150 innovative prescription medicines, including 33 cancer drugs and 117 medicines for a range of other diseases. Some of the other findings from the report include the following.
• When looking at the Common Drug Review positive recommendation rate of non-cancer drugs, Canada’s rank has fallen two spots, from 20 out of 25 countries last year, to 22 out of 29 this year. When you factor in how public plans in Canada reimburse these same non-cancer drugs, Canada’s ranking lowers to 24.
• Last year, Canada ranked 21 out of 25 countries when it came to reimbursing first-in-class drugs. Canada now ranks 26 out of 29 countries, ahead of only Luxemburg, New Zealand and Poland.
• Canada’s public drug plans cover 42% of the effective new treatments that help patients control diabetes, compared with an international average of 97%.
The report was done by Wyatt Health Management on behalf of Rx&D. Data were collected from public sources and then validated with public drug plan officials.