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Strictly speaking, this is not true. The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board does set prices based on comparable prices in other countries, but the actual pur
by cal5k 7y ago
Strictly speaking, this is not true. The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board does set prices based on comparable prices in other countries, but the actual purchasing happens by a wide variety of public and private payers. Most working Canadians have private insurance that covers pharmaceuticals, and each province maintains its own separate drug insurance scheme for low-income citizens.
In response, pharmaceutical companies inflate prices of new medications, then negotiate confidential deals that make it difficult to get a realistic comparison for the purpose of setting prices. Because we don't actually have a single payer for pharmaceuticals (there is no national pharmacare program), this program fails at price discovery, since the review board does not go about the actual purchasing of said drugs.
The net result is that Canada has the 3rd-highest per capita drug spend in the world (Switzerland is #2).
- Scoundreller 7y ago> pharmaceutical companies inflate prices of new medications, then negotiate confidential deals that make it difficult to get a realistic comparison for the purpose of setting prices. In reality, this occurs because the “new” product is junk and no better than the cheaper generic it’s replacing. With these government-sanctioned rebates, the manufacturers save themselves the embarrassment of trying to explain why nobody’s insurance will pay for it (it’s expensive junk).
- cal5k 7y agoMaybe for some products that are merely isomers of existing off-patent medications, but biologics are pretty amazing - Hep C is basically curable now, for example.
- Scoundreller 7y agoA drug like that pretty much names its own price. Even Canada's system has exemptions from its usual pricing controls for drugs like that.