INDUSTRY POOLING HELPS MAINTAIN AFFORDABILITY OF HIGH-COST DRUGS DESPITE SIGNIFICANT INFLATIONARY PRESSURES

TORONTO, Dec. 20, 2021 /CNW/ - Based on its 2020 results, the Canadian Drug Insurance Pooling Corporation's (CDIPC) high-cost drug framework provided coverage to almost 28,000 Canadians and their families where drug costs exceeded $10,000 annually.

While only 11 new biologic drugs were approved by Health Canada in 2019, CDIPC's member insurance companies reimbursed claims associated with 54 new high-cost drugs including those for rare diseases.

Based on past experience, CDIPC estimates that approximately 174,000 Canadians face a high-cost drug burden, an increase of 34 per cent since 2016.

"The COVID-19 pandemic had virtually no impact on CDIPC's high-cost drug experience in 2019," CDIPC's Executive Director Dan Berty said. "During a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has created so many business challenges for small and mid-size employers and families, CDIPC's framework has helped sustain the drug plans of 14,464 similarly sized employers across Canada." Berty added his hope that "the federal Government's long awaited PMPRB reforms will be implemented January 1, 2022 to further assist these employers and employees with their drug costs by saving millions annually."

About CDIPC
Established by Canada's life and health insurers in 2012, the Canadian Drug Insurance Pooling Corporation is a not-for-profit corporation whose mission is help maintain sustainable drug coverage for Canadians and their employers by pooling the claims impacted by recurring high-cost drugs from claimants belonging to fully insured drug plans of Canadian life and health insurance companies.

Additional information about CDIPC's drug cost pooling in 2020 is available on the pooling results data section of our website.

SOURCE Canadian Drug Insurance Pooling Corporation

Dan Berty, Executive Director, [phone]/ [email protected]