EU Proposals Threaten Canada’s Life Sciences Success Story

February 16, 2012
11:45 am - 1:30 pm

InterContinental Hotel
225 Front Street West, Toronto
Map Location

Canada is home to one of the world’s largest concentrations of generic pharmaceutical research, development and manufacturing. The industry plays a key role in the country’s health-care system and its economy.

Global generic pharmaceutical sales are increasing by 10% annually and are expected to reach $358-billion by 2016. Canada is currently well positioned to benefit from this growth through existing generic pharmaceutical investments by several global and Canadian-based companies.

As part of current trade negotiations with Canada, the European Union has proposed extensions to periods of market monopoly for brand-name drugs by an estimated average of 3.5 years. These extensions would add up to $2.8 billion annually to provincial governments’, employers’ and patients’ drug costs.

The extension of market monopolies proposed by the EU would also make Canada’s generic manufacturers less competitive internationally and threaten the industry’s exports of Canadian-made products, which account for approximately 40 percent the industry’s revenues.