A leading global market
For 2022, Canada’s total health spending was estimated at some 334 billion Canadian dollars. Of that, around 46 billion dollars, or approximately 14 percent, were for pharmaceuticals. As in many other countries, health and medicine costs have been skyrocketing also in Canada over the last decades. In a comparison with other developed countries, Canadian prices for branded drugs are higher than in most of them. Switzerland is at about the same level, while prices in the U.S. are more than three times higher on average.Dominated by foreign players
The pharmaceutical industry in Canada is a significant economic segment, employing more than 33 thousand people in the manufacturing sector alone. However, Canada still imports far more pharmaceutical products than it exports to other countries. In 2022, the trade deficit in this area stood at more than 15 billion Canadian dollars. The industry is largely dominated by the big pharma players from the neighboring United States and Europe. Johnson & Johnson is the only pharmaceutical company in Canada that maintains a double-digit market share. The only Canada-based pharmaceutical company that makes it among the global top 50 is Bausch Health Companies from Laval, Quebec.The rise of biotech
Pharmaceutical research and development expenditures in Canada fluctuated over the last decade but are in general somewhere around 800 to 900 million Canadian dollars. The research-focused industry is very concentrated in the metropolitan areas of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Following to the global trend, biologics play an increasing role in Canada, too. The number of annually approved new biotech drugs has a growing tendency as well as the biotech share of total drug costs.
