Prescribed drug spending in Canada, 2023

Public drug program spending in Canada was $17.2 billion in 2022.

• Spending increased by 6.4% from 2021, compared with a 7.4% increase from 2020 to 2021.
• 43.3% of public drug program spending was for the 2.2% of beneficiaries for whom a drug program paid $10,000 or more.

A new drug to treat cystic fibrosis was the top contributor to increased spending.

• Trikafta (chemical name ivacaftor/tezacaftor/elexacaftor) was first marketed in Canada in 2021.
• Spending on Trikafta was $285 million in 2022 and represented roughly 25% of total growth in public drug program spending.

Spending on drugs to treat diabetes continued to grow. 

• Spending on glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) analogues and sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors reached $868 million, representing 24% of total growth in public drug program spending.
• The largest contributor to the growth was increased spending on Ozempic (chemical name semaglutide). Spending on Ozempic — which makes up 95% of all spending on GLP-1 analogues — rose from $265 million in 2021 to $434 million in 2022.

Spending on biologic drugs continued to increase, but uptake of new biosimilar options has slowed this growth rate.

• Biologics accounted for $4.7 billion of public drug program spending (29.6% of total spending) and accounted for 2.4% of claims.
• In 2022, biosimilars accounted for 13.7% of all spending on biologics, compared with 8.9% in 2021.
• For biologic drugs with a biosimilar option available, biosimilar spending accounts for nearly half (49.8%) of biologic spending.
• All submitting jurisdictions saw increased biosimilar spending over the last year.

• National Prescription Drug Utilization Information System
• National Health Expenditure Trends
• Health spending
• Previous prescribed drug spending in Canada releases