Drug Price Controls and Pharmaceutical Innovation

Drug costs have undeniably risen more quickly than other health care costs. The share of drugs in overall Canadian health care spending went from 10.8% in 1988 to 15.7% in 2001. However, the higher drug expenses facing Canada’s health care systems are not due to price increases imposed by multinational pharmaceutical firms. Various factors explain the growth in drug spending.

Links of interest

Media release: Canada’s pharmaceutical industry may suffer from federal drug price control policy

« The debate concerning drug price controls has begun in earnest. And the Montreal Economic Institute headlines our editorial line-up with a typically cogent analysis of the issue. » –Mark Weller, Publisher, Montreal Business Magazine, March-April 2004, p. 1.