An Empirical Examination of the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board Price Control Amendments on Drug Launches in Canada
Oliver Spicer, Paul Grootendorst
The Government of Canada plans to implement new controls on prices of patented drugs in January 2021. The literature indicates that such controls delay drug launches. The Government’s unpublished analysis suggests that no delays will occur. To examine this claim, we use recent OECD country level data to estimate regression models of launch delays. These models suggest that the new price controls will indeed delay access to new medicines in Canada.