OBJECTIVES

: This report provides an in-depth look at public drug program spending in Canada in 2017. It looks at the types of drugs accounting for the majority of spending, broken down by sex, age and neighbourhood income. It also examines how different drug classes contribute to observed trends in public drug program spending in Canada.

METHODS

: This report provides an in-depth look at public drug program spending in 2017 using drug claims data submitted to CIHI’s National Prescription Drug Utilization Information System. Information from Statistics Canada’s Postal Code Conversion File was used to examine data by neighbourhood income-level and urban/rural location.

RESULTS

: Public drug program spending increased by 4.6% in 2017 and accounts for over 40% of prescribed drug spending in Canada. Antivirals for hepatitis C and antineovascularization agents were the top 2 contributors to growth in spending. Biologic drugs to treat rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s, etc. (8.2%) and hepatitis C drugs (5.0%) accounted for the two highest proportions of public drug program spending.

About 1 in 4 Canadians (22.7%) received benefit from a public drug program in 2017. Public drug program spending per paid beneficiary was higher among those in low-income neighbourhoods but was lower among those living in rural/remote neighbourhoods.

The proportion of public drug program spending on high-cost individuals continues to rise. In 2017, the 2.3% of individuals for whom a drug program paid $10,000 or more accounted for more than one-third of spending (36.6%).

CONCLUSIONS

: An increasing proportion of drug spending is on high cost drugs for a small number of individuals. Going forward it will be important to continue to monitor the impact of economic growth and the demand for high cost drugs and the needs of patients requiring complex drug therapies.