Advocacy

Provincial

The Role of the Generic Pharmaceutical Industry in Canadian Health Care

Approved by Health Canada, generic drugs are low-cost versions of brand-name drugs that are produced by several manufacturers once the 20-year patents expire on the brand-name versions. Generic drugs are identical or bioequivalent to higher-priced brand-name versions in dosage form, safety, strength, route of administration, quality, performance characteristics and intended use.

In Canada, the use of lower cost generic prescription medicines saved governments, employers and consumers nearly $7 -billion in 2010.

The Economics of Generics: Value for Money

Even though generic drugs are dispensed by pharmacists to fill more than 57.3% of all prescriptions in Canada, they account for only 25.6% of the $22.3-billion that Canadians spent on prescription medicines in 2010.

For every one percent increase in generic drug utilization, Canadians save an additional 236 million dollars.

More Savings Could Be Realized:

In the United States, generic prescription drugs are dispensed to fill 78% of all prescriptions. If the use of generic drugs in Canada increased to these levels, it would have saved Canada’s health-care system up to $3 billion in 2010.

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	The Role of the Generic Pharmaceutical Industry in Canadian Health Care