The number of new drugs covered under pharmacare will be less than private drug plans and lead to Canadians having to wait longer to obtain drugs, according to a study conducted by the Canadian Health Policy Institute (CHPI). Of the 166 new medicines authorized for marketing by Health Canada from 2018 to 2022, public drug plans covered 30 (18%) compared to 106 (64%) in private ones, according to the study. In other words, publicly-insured Canadians were covered for less than one-fifth of the new drugs Health Canada deemed safe and effective during the study period. By contrast, privately-insured Canadians were covered for 3.5 times the number of new drugs available to publicly-insured ones. For the few new drugs that were listed, the CHPI said publicly-insured Canadians waited two years on average from Health Canada approval to be available in their provincial or federal plans. It pointed out this was twice as long as the average wait times experienced by privately-insured Canadians. The insurance coverage delay averaged 770 days across all listings in the 11 provincial and federal public drug formularies. However, the comparable average wait time for insurance coverage for new medicines in private sector drug plans was 369 days.The CHPI concluded by saying the limited scope of coverage in existing public drug plans is indicative of what Canadians can expect from national pharmacare. It warned it will reduce access to new medicines for 27 million Canadians covered under private plans.Canada has less availability and terrible wait times for access for new drugs, according to an April 11 study conducted by the CHPI. READ MORE: Study finds less availability, long waits for new medicines in CanadaThe CHPI said Canada was a low-priority market for new drug launches. It said the number of new drug applications submitted in Canada was 54% of the number launched in the United States and 62% of those launched in the European Union. Health Canada approved fewer new drugs compared to the US Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency. Seven-tenths of the new drugs authorized for marketing in the US and 78% of those in Europe were approved in Canada.
