By the Numbers: Oncology in Canada
October 18, 2021
Cancer is as common as it is devastating. As the population ages, cancer will enter more and more people’s lives, sending them and their loved ones on an increasingly complex treatment pathway. Fortunately, these new treatments hold more promise than anything that came before—if they get to the right patients at the right time.
Cancer in Canada
50%: Nearly 1 in 2 Canadians will get a cancer diagnosis at some point in life, and about half of those diagnosed will die of the disease. These figures make cancer the leading cause of death in Canada.1
225,880: Number of new cancer cases that were anticipated in 2020—about 617 per day.2
48%: Proportion of all new cancers attributed to the “big four”: breast cancer (25% of new cancer cases in women), prostate cancer (20% of all new cancer cases in men), lung cancer (14%), and colorectal cancer (12%).2
20%: Decrease in the number of cancer surgeries performed in Canada from March to June 2020 compared to the same period in the previous year—a collateral effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.3
Nonstop innovation
35%: Oncology’s share of the global 2020 medication pipeline (at all phases of clinical trials).4
15: Cancer drugs approved by Health Canada in 2020 (out of a total of 84 approved medications).5,29
3: Precision oncology drugs approved by Health Canada in 2020: alpelisib, entrectinib, and tucatinib.5,29
62: New cancer drugs launched in the US between 2015 and 2020, jointly covering 130 indications across 24 different tumour types.6
21: Number of precision oncology drugs approved by the FDA in the first half of 2021, a record.7
Rising costs
$164 billion: Global spending on oncology drugs in 2020, a figure expected to grow to $269 billion by 2025.6
$46.9 billion: Value of the global oncology precision medicine market alone in 2019, expected to triple (to $148.7 billion) by 2030.8
$3.9 billion: Sales of oncology drugs in Canada in 2019—almost triple the $1.4 billion figure of 2010.4
14.6%: Oncology slice of the total Canadian drug-sales pie in 2019.9
37%: Share of oncology drug spend in Canada devoted to high-cost medicines (28-day treatment cost > $10,000) in 2019, up from just 7% in 2010.10
Improved outcomes
48%: Reduction in mortality from breast cancer since the peak rate in 1986.11
11 weeks: Extra progression-free survival (with no increased costs) attributed to precision medicine in an analysis of patients with advanced cancer.12
30 days: Reduction in time from referral to treatment for lung cancer patients at a leading institute in Quebec (26 days, down from the provincial average of 56 days), thanks to an optimized approach to diagnosis and molecular testing.13
63%: Proportion of Canadians expected to survive for at least 5 years after a cancer diagnosis, up from 55% in the early 1990s.2
References
1. Cancer statistics at a glance. Canadian Cancer Society.
https://cancer.ca/en/research/cancer-statistics/cancer-statistics-at-a-glance
2. Emergency situation facing Canadians in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Canadian Cancer Society, April 2021.
https://sencanada.ca/content/sen/committee/432/SOCI/Briefs/CanadianCancerSociety_e.pdf
3. PMPRB Meds Pipeline Monitor 2020.
https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/pmprb-cepmb/documents/npduis/analytical-studies/meds-pipeline-monitor/2020/MPM-2020-en.pdf
4. Approved in 2020: drugs for human use. Government of Canada.
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/drugs-health-products/drug-medical-device-highlights-2020/approved-2020-drugs-human-use.html
5. Global oncology innovation continues despite COVID-19 pandemic. IQVIA, July 3, 2021.
https://www.iqvia.com/newsroom/2021/06/global-oncology-innovation-continues-despite-pandemic-global-rd-pipeline-reached-3500-new-drugs-in-2
6. Ray T. FDA approves record number of precision oncology drugs in H1 2021. Precision Oncology News, July 21, 2021.
https://www.precisiononcologynews.com/cancer/fda-approves-record-number-precision-oncology-drugs-h1-2020#.YTiiv99E02w
7. Global oncology precision medicine market (2020 to 2030). Intrado Global Newswire, Jan. 5, 2021.
https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2021/01/05/2153331/28124/en/Global-Oncology-Precision-Medicine-Market-2020-to-2030-Analysis-and-Forecast.html
8. Oncology medicines in Canada 2010-2019. PMPRB, Oct. 2020.
https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/pmprb-cepmb/documents/reports-and-studies/chartbooks/OncologyChartbook-2010-2019-EN.pdf
9. PMPRB Annual Report 2019.
https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/pmprb-cepmb/documents/reports-and-studies/annual-report/2019/pmprb-ar-2019-en.pdf
10. Canadian Cancer Society Statistics 2019.
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/lung-cancer-patient-care-the-conference-board-of-canada-cites-the-quebec-heart-and-lung-institute-as-a-model-even-as-its-labs-are-threatened-811392455.html
11. Haslem DS et al. A retrospective analysis of precision medicine outcomes in patients with advanced cancer reveals improved progression-free survival without increased health care costs. J Oncol Pract 2017; 13:e108.
12. Lung cancer patient care. Cision, March 17, 2021.
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/lung-cancer-patient-care-the-conference-board-of-canada-cites-the-quebec-heart-and-lung-institute-as-a-model-even-as-its-labs-are-threatened-811392455.html
13. Cancer statistics. Canadian Cancer Society.
https://cancer.ca/en/research/cancer-statistics
15. 20Sense original research.