By the numbers: Key patient access timelines and figures in Canada
April 24, 2025
We’ve all heard anecdotes about treatment access delays and their impact on patients. But system-wide, what’s the scope of the issue? Here are some facts and figures on timely access:
598 days: The average time from Health Canada approval to first listing by a public drug plan for medications in Canada in 2024.1
19th out of 20: Canada’s rank among OECD countries for the time it takes patients to access new approved medicines – almost two years. Canada also ranks last in the G7 in this regard.2
65%: Average proportion of drugs approved in Canada that receive public reimbursement within 2 years, compared to 96% in top OECD countries.3
8.35 months: The typical pCPA negotiation time. Only 35% of files met the pCPA’s target time of 6.5 months – an improvement – between 2020 and 2024.4
3.5 months: Average time for a new medication in Canada to reach 50 per cent of public drug plans following completion of pCPA negotiations. This ranged from 44 days in Quebec to 662 days in Prince Edward Island, with longer delays in eastern than western regions.5
65%: Reduction in hospitalizations in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) during the first year of Canadian availability of the drug Trikafta. Since its introduction, healthcare resource use by CF patients has decreased dramatically and the number of deaths in CF patients has dropped by an estimated 15%.6
0: Days from regulatory approval to patient access for 4 novel non-small cell lung cancer therapies approved in the UK through Project Orbis and listed through an early access process, enabling patients to receive the drugs an average of 7 months before routine listing.7
References
1. IQVIA Market Access Metrics, December 2024.
2. More than just medicines: Canada’s innovative pharmaceutical industry is contributing to the country’s overall health. Innovative Medicines Canada. Feb. 26, 2024. https://innovativemedicines.ca/newsroom/all-news/more-than-just-medicines-canadas-innovative-pharmaceutical-industry-is-contributing-to-the-countrys-overall-health/
3. Explaining public reimbursement delays for new medicines for Canadian patients. Hoskyn SL, for Innovative Medicines Canada. http://innovativemedicines.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/20200630-CADTH-TTL-Poster-FINAL.pdf.
4. February 2025 Dashboard. pCPA. https://www.pcpacanada.ca/sites/default/files/eng/pCPA_Dashboard_February_2025.pdf.
5. Access and Time to Patient: Prescription Drugs in Canada—January 2024. The Conference Board of Canada. https://www.conferenceboard.ca/product/access-and-time-to-patient-jan2024/.
6. Impact of Trikafta on individuals living with cystic fibrosis. CIHI. November 21, 2024. https://www.cihi.ca/en/impact-of-trikafta-on-individuals-living-with-cystic-fibrosis
7. 20Sense original research.