Express Scripts Canada has announced the findings of the Express Scripts Canada 2011 Drug Trend Report, an annual report that provides one of the country’s most comprehensive analyses into the use of prescription drugs and related trends in the private sector throughout Canada. Among the primary findings of the report is that while drug spend remained flat in 2011, private drug plans in Canada wasted approximately $5 billion in drug spend for the 2011 calendar year. The report defines waste as “spending that does not result in improvements to health outcomes”. Other key findings included: 1) increased average annual drug spend perclaimant ($761 in 2011 vs $757 in 2010); 2) increased utilization by ~2.5% every year (average number of prescriptions per claimant in 2011 was 12.6 vs 12.3 in 2010); 3) decreased cost per prescription ($60.45 in 2011 vs $61.55 in 2010); 4) increased average dispensing fee ($10.74 in 2011 vs $10.64 in 2010); 5) decreased generic prices from approximately 60% of brand price to between 30%-45%; and 6) increased average price per brand prescription.
