News

Statement by Patented Medicine Prices Review Board Vice-chairperson on consultation on potential changes to the Patented Medicines Regulations

May 16, 2017

Ottawa, ON — Patented Medicine Prices Review Board

Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) Vice-chairperson Dr. Mitchell Levine today made the following statement on the launch of Health Canada’s consultation on potential changes to the Patented Medicines Regulations:

“The PMPRB welcomes the Minister of Health’s action to strengthen and modernize its pricing framework to reduce the cost of prescription drugs. We look forward to the outcome of this consultation process.”

Quick Facts

  • The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board is an independent, quasi-judicial administrative agency with a regulatory mandate to protect Canadian consumers from excessively priced patented drugs.
  • The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board sets the maximum price at which a patented drug can be sold based on the price of the drug in Canada; the price of other drugs in the same therapeutic class in Canada; the price of the drug and other drugs in the same therapeutic class in other countries; and changes in the rate of inflation.
  • Patentees must file price and sales information when their drug enters the Canadian market, and twice a year afterwards.
  • Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) staff review the prices patentees charge for each individual patented drug product on an ongoing basis and will open an investigation under certain circumstances contemplated in the PMPRB’s drug pricing guidelines, or when the PMPRB receives a complaint about the price of a drug.
  • Where a drug appears to be excessively priced, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board may hold a public hearing on the matter, which can result in an order requiring the patentee to lower its price and/or pay back excess revenues to the Crown.

Associated Links

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Contact

Sofie McCoy-Astell
Manager, Communications
Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
613-288-9597
Sofie.McCoy-Astell@pmprb-cepmb.gc.ca

TTY (telecommunications device for the hearing impaired) – 613-957-4373
Follow us on Twitter: @PMPRB_CEPMB


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