Pharmaceutical association recommends generic medicine
Canadians could save about $750 million on the cost of prescription medicines in the first year alone if the use of generic drugs increased to levels in the United Sates, according to the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association (CGPA) following the release of 2007 prescription drug sales information by IMS Health Canada.
Lower-cost generic drugs filled 48 per cent of all prescriptions in Canada in 2007 compared to 67 per cent in the U.S. This 19-percentage-point gap is the largest ever recorded and represents an increase of three points compared to 2006 levels.
“Canadian governments, employers that sponsor drug plans for employees and all Canadians are missing out on important savings that can be realized by increasing their use of lower-cost generic medicines,” said Jim Keon, president of CGPA.
“Increasing the use of lower-cost generic medicines is a far better way to save money on prescription drugs than cutting benefits or asking patients, particularly seniors and those on fixed incomes, to pay more for the medicines.”
