Canada continues to approve and sell the highest-selling internationally approved new medicines – PMPRB’s latest report

The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) published the 10th edition of its annual Meds Entry Watch report today.

October 14, 2026 — Ottawa, ON — Patented Medicine Prices Review Board

The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) published the 10th edition of its annual Meds Entry Watch report today. Canada continues to approve more new medicines than the median for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Most new medicines come to market with high treatment costs and specialty medicines such as biologic, orphan, and cancer treatments continue to make up a growing share of the new drug landscape.

The Meds Entry Watch, 10th edition report focuses on medicines approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and/or Health Canada between 2021 and 2025, and analyzes their uptake, pricing, sales, and availability as of the last quarter of 2024 (Q4-2024).

This publication informs decision makers, researchers, and patients of the evolving market dynamics of emerging therapies in Canadian and international pharmaceutical markets.

From 2021 to 2025, an average of 54 new medicines were first approved by either Health Canada, the FDA, or EMA each year. Over half of these medicines received an orphan designation from the FDA or EMA.

In Q4-2024, 77% of total OECD sales of new medicines were for medicines that had sales in Canada, indicating that Canada continues to approve and sell the highest-selling medicines approved internationally. 

Diabetes medicine tirzepatide was the internationally highest-selling new medicine approved between 2021-2024, accounting for 47% of Q4-2024 sales.

Focusing on medicines receiving first Canadian approval, between 2021 and 2025, Health Canada granted market authorization to 41 medicines each year on average, of which an average of 14 (34%) were expensive drugs for rare diseases.