Rapid Growth For Canada's Generics

Generic drug companies in Canada are growing fast, despite the legal changes implemented last year aimed at helping research-based drugmakers, reports the Toronto Star.

It appears that patent law changes have not helped brand-name drug companies, since they are having problems selling their higher-priced medicines. For the first six months of this year, sales by generic drugmakers rose 35% while the leading 25 brand-name companies saw their sales decline 2.1%, SmithKline Beecham Canada's president, Ger Van Amersfoort, told a meeting of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Canada.

Getting products on provincial drug formularies is a major problem, he said, noting that last year, of 83 new products approved for marketing by the health authorities, only 21 were put on the Ontario list of reimbursable drugs, and Ontario has also delisted some drugs. Some 36% of prescriptions nationwide are now generic.