Canadian Industrial Profile: Pharmaceutical Products—Winter 2017

Aging Population—As Canada’s population continues to age rapidly, spending on pharmaceutical products will continue to increase steadily.

CETA Patent Terms—Intellectual property provisions in the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) should extend patent terms. This will slow the introduction of generics to the Canadian market, benefitting producers of patented drugs.

R&D Spending—Research and development expenditures fell to 5.1 per cent in 2015, compared with an average of 7.7 per cent over the past decade, which could hamper the industry’s ability to capitalize on rising global demand.