Yesterday, thePMPRB released its Annual Reportfor the year ending December 31, 2013. The Annual Report is an extensive document that reviews all of the PMPRB´s major activities, analyses of the prices of patented medicines and of the price trends of all drugs, and reports on the R&D expenditures as reported by patentees.

Highlights from the report include:

• Sales of patented drugs in Canada increased by 6.5% to $13.6 billion from $12.8 billion in 2012
• The share of patented drugs in Canada as a percentage of total sales rose from 59.3% in 2012 to 61.8% in 2013
• Prices of patented drugs sold by patentees, as measured by the Patented Medicines Price Index, saw an average increase of 0.5% and the Consumer Price Index rose by 0.9%.
• Canadian prices were the 3rd highest among the seven comparator countries, lower than prices in Germany and the US. In 2012 Canadian prices were 4^th highest behind the US, Germany and Switzerland.
• The prices of patented drugs in the United States experienced an average increase rate of 11.2% in 2013, while the United Kingdom saw much more modest (0.7%) average price increase rate. Average prices in France, Switzerland and Sweden each declined by a rate of approximately 5%, while Italian prices decreased by 1.6%. No change was observed in Germany for 2013 compared with 2012.

For more information regarding the Annual Report, please visit the PMPRB website.