Fear of missing out: Drug availability in the United States vs Canada

Per capita spending on drugs in the United States is double that of Canada. One commonly debated point when comparing the 2 countries is whether this additional spending allows residents of the United States access to valuable therapies not available in Canada.

To characterize the therapeutic value of prescription drugs used in the United States that are not marketed in Canada.

This cross-sectional study used IQVIA Multinational Integrated Data Analysis System data to identify drugs purchased in the United States but not in Canada from 2017 to 2021. Drug listing and regulatory review statuses were obtained. We categorized the drugs into 8 mutually exclusive groups: listing status in Canada ("cancelled post-market" or "dormant; approved but not marketed; cancelled pre-market"), other alternatives available ("formulation unavailable," "existing drug class," or "therapeutically similar"), "pre-approval," "atypical access available," or "unavailable without alternatives marketed" in Canada. Therapeutic value assessments of drugs in the last category were obtained from 3 international organizations.

2,084 products were purchased in the United States but not in Canada from 2017 to 2021; 1,685 were excluded because they were not prescription drugs, were combinations in which each active pharmaceutical ingredient was already available in the United States as a separate drug, had been discontinued in the United States by August 30, 2023, or were marketed in Canada by August 30, 2023. After exclusions, there were 399 drugs; 120 (30%) were "cancelled post-market," 38 (10%) were "dormant; approved but not marketed; cancelled pre-market," 49 (12%) were "formulation unavailable," 130 (33%) were "existing drug class," 35 (9%) were "therapeutically similar," 3 (1%) were "preapproval," 15 (4%) were "atypical access available," and 9 (2%) were "unavailable" in Canada. 6 of the 9 drugs had been evaluated by 1 or more independent organizations, and all 6 were rated as offering minor to no additional therapeutic value compared with existing drugs.

There was similar access to important prescription drug therapies in the United States and Canada. Overall, the additional spending in the United States may not have necessarily translated into access to important therapeutic innovations.