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CANADIAN DRUG PLAN SPENDING ON SPECIALTY DRUGS, INCLUDING BIOLOGICS, CONTINUES TO INCREASE^1,2

Biologic drugs accounted for 3 of the top 5 drug classes in terms of public drug program spending in 2018¹

BIOLOGIC DRUGS³

Come from living organisms or from their cells
Treat various medical conditions including anemia, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, hormone deficiencies and some forms of cancer
Biologic drugs are generally larger and more complex than chemically produced pharmaceutical drugs

BIOSIMILAR DRUGS³

A biosimilar biologic drug, or biosimilar, is a drug demonstrated to be highly similar to a biologic drug that was already authorized for sale (known as the reference biologic drug)
They may enter the market after the expiry of reference drug patents and data protection
There are no expected clinically meaningful differences in efficacy and safety between a biosimilar and the biologic drug that was already authorized for sale

SPECIALTY DRUGS^*, including brand name biologics and biosimilars, ACCOUNTED FOR 29% OF DRUG COSTS on private plans in 2018²

*Defined as drugs costing >$10,000 per year.

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