I confess I hadn't heard this apparently common (?) theory for why Novo let the Ozempic patent lapse in Canada (this seems a very... bold... strategy?).
But it sure underscores a key limit of the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board around tackling excessive pricing (hint: the 1st P in #PMPRB) 💊💰

Screenshot of the linked announcement

👀"Government of Canada announces the new Chairperson of the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board"
(Spoiler: It's Anie Perrault)
#PMPRB 💊💰
www.canada.ca/en/health-ca...

PMPRB closes all open drug-pricing investigations before implementing new guidelines on Jan. 1 But that doesn’t mean the drug pricing tribunal can’t look at past years’ data to inform future reviews of drug prices, says director general Guillaume Couillard.

🤔"The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board has closed any outstanding investigations into excessive pricing in order to start “fresh” when updated guidelines are implemented in the new year, says its director general."
🇨🇦💊💰 #PMPRB
www.hilltimes.com/story/2025/1...

Paragraph from the linked report reading "Our analysis of the market for patented medicines in 2024 characterizes the difference in domestic and international markets for pharmaceuticals. Canadian list prices for patented medicines rose by 1.0% in 2024 while prices in most comparator countries declined. For this reason, Canadian prices were at the top of the PMPRB comparator countries (“PMPRB11”) this year and fifth among the broader set of OECD countries. In general, countries with a GDP per capita similar to Canada tended to have lower prices for patented medicines. Sales of patented medicines in Canada increased by 10.9% to reach $22.1 billion in 2024, representing 47% of the sales of all medicines. At the same time, Rights Holders reported close to $1.4 billion in total spending on research and development (R&D), up 21% from the year before. A closer look at these R&D expenditures shows that over three quarters of reporting companies had an R&D-to-sales ratio below 5%, with 46% reporting no R&D expenditures for 2024. Canada’s overall R&D-to-sales ratio remains well below the average for PMPRB11 countries."

The new Annual Report of the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board ( #PMPRB) is out.
Not very cheery. 💊💰
www.canada.ca/en/patented-...

Fast forward to 2022 and many twists and turns later, only one part of those reforms remained. (For background, see my letter of resignation from the #PMPRB here: cdn.dal.ca/content/dam/...)

Buried in an Annex to yesterday's federal budget was a very curious statement about the #PMPRB, Canada's drug pricing regulator.

In order to cut costs by 15% (as almost all federal agencies have been mandated to do), the Board would 'modernise its hearings':

budget.canada.ca/2025/report-...

1/4

Canada’s new drug pricing guidelines are industry-friendly
#Canada #Health #Pharmacare #DrugPrices #CanadaHealth #PMPRB #HealthPolicy #AffordableMeds #PrescriptionCosts #BigPharma #HealthEquity #PublicHealth #DrugPrices #PrescriptionDrugs
the-14.com/canadas-new-...

Screenshot of the title page of the guidelines

New guidelines from Canada's Patented Medicine Prices Review Board ( #PMPRB) are out. 💊💰
www.canada.ca/en/patented-...

Screenshot of the title and first two paragraphs of the linked press release.

New edition of the Meds Entry Watch report from Canada's Patented Medicine Prices Review Board ( #PMPRB). 💊💰
www.canada.ca/en/patented-...

Waiting for Pharmacare Despite the recent passing of legislation of the same name by the Trudeau government, national pharmacare remains as fanciful a prospect in Canada as high-speed rail

Blistering take on Canadian #pharmacare by the former Executive Director of the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board ( #PMPRB)
dclarka175.substack.com/p/waiting-fo...

👀In a further twist, in the announcement the chairperson was resigning & "The Board and #PMPRB staff are grateful for the services of Mr. Digby and wish him success in his future endeavours", it... wasn't clear said future endeavours were running for the Green Party: www.tomdigby.ca/_files/ugd/1...

Though speaking of #PMPRB news...
There's also this quite scathing Federal Court of Appeal decision in the long-running Galderma/Differin saga from earlier this week...
💊💰⚖️ www.canlii.org/en/ca/fca/do...

Screenshot of statistical highlights 2023 page from the linked report

New annual report (covering 2023) of Canada's Patented Medicine Prices Review Board #PMPRB is out.
Of note: "The R&D-to-sales ratio was 3.7% in 2023, an increase from 2022". Since 3.7%<10%, it has now been under the industry commitment of 10% for the past 23 years. 💊💰 www.canada.ca/content/dam/...