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Canada's 2023 fast lane for conditionally licensed cancer drugs, in which value review and price negotiation run side by side, got the first drug to use it to its first province more than 200 days sooner than a similar drug on the ordinary route.
A brief report on oncology drugs granted a Notice of Compliance with conditions between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2024, measuring the time from licence to first provincial listing and the time spent at Health Canada, Canada's Drug Agency and the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance.
Nine such drugs were licensed in the period; three (glofitamab, niraparib with abiraterone, and epcoritamab) had received provincial listings, with a median of 509 days from licence to listing (interquartile range 306 to 544). Only epcoritamab used the time-limited recommendation and temporary access route introduced in September 2023, and it reached its first listing more than 200 days sooner than glofitamab, which has a similar profile. The gain came from the alliance processing the file in parallel with the review; neither agency reviewed faster, and the agency's review times for all three fell within its target of 180 days or less.
Running review and price negotiation at the same time can cut months off how long a new cancer drug takes to be paid for in Canada, but by the end of January 2025 only one drug had used the route.
Shares Canada's Drug Agency (CDA-AMC), Current oncology, Health Canada.
Shares Canada's Drug Agency (CDA-AMC), Current oncology, Health Canada.
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