A recent Telus Health comparison of a drug’s cost effectiveness when calculated from the private versus the public-payer perspective demonstrated clearly that the private-payer perspective matters when assessing the value of a medication, explained Dr Nina Lathia, pharmacist, and health economist, at Benefits Canada’s Face to Face Drug Plan Management Forum on Dec. 9, 2020. […]
Analysis by Telus Health found specialty drugs have grown from 11 per cent of total private drug plan claims costs in 2008 to 30 per cent in 2019 and require effective management to ensure sustainability of health benefits plans, said Suzanne Lepage, private health plan strategist, during a session at Benefits Canada’s Face to Face […]
Health Canada says it’s delaying the implementation of long-awaited changes to Canada’s drug-pricing regime by another six months. A spokesman for the department, says the amendments to patented medicine regulations, which were set to take effect Jan. 1, will now come into force on July 1. Geoffroy Legault-Thivierge says the postponement is intended to give pharmaceutical manufacturers […]
The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board published its new guidelines on Friday. The guidelines, which will take effect on Jan. 1, 2021, aim to modernize Canada’s pricing framework for patented medicines. They explain the steps that will typically be taken by the PMPRB’s staff in assessing whether a patented medicine appears to be priced excessively in Canada. The […]
In its submission to the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board’s draft guidelines, the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association is suggesting that the board consider disbursing excess revenues from pharmaceutical companies to employers rather than just to the provincial and territorial public payers. Currently, any excess revenues — determined by voluntary compliance undertaking or orders […]
The Federal Court has upheld reforms to the Patented Medicines Pricing Review Board that updated the board’s reference countries for drug pricing and required it to review three new economic factors when determining whether patented medicines are excessively priced. The court ruled against an argument by Innovative Medicines Canada and 16 pharmaceutical companies in their […]
The coronavirus pandemic has prompted a spike in the use of prescription medication for mental-health concerns, according to an analysis by Express Scripts Canada. The analysis found an 11 per cent increase in plan members making claims for antidepressants between January and June 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. As well, 61 per […]
As reported earlier this month, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board has published a new draft of its guidelines and launched a 30-day written consultation period. While the law and regulations have already been passed, the implementation has been delayed from July 1, 2020 to Jan. 1, 2021. The new draft guidelines are in response […]
On May 12, Benefits Canada hosted a webinar to discuss the pharmaceutical industry’s efforts during the coronavirus crisis, as well as some key policy issues for Canadian insurers and their potential impact from the private-payer perspective. Since the end of April, 139 coronavirus treatments have been under investigation and Health Canada has approved several clinical trials […]
Manulife Financial Corp. is lending a hand to group benefits plan sponsors in light of the tight financial situation many businesses are in due to the coronavirus pandemic. The insurer is providing certain premium relief for all group benefits plan sponsors with an insured non-refund accounted benefits plan with Manulife. For the month of May, dental […]