REGINA — A new Fraser Institute study is showing long waits and lengthy delays for Canadian patients to access potentially life-saving drugs already approved for Americans and Europeans.
According to the study Timely Access to New Pharmaceuticals in Canada, the United States, and the European Union, 2026, published this week, Canadian patients are waiting on average over a year longer than Europeans, and nearly two years longer than Americans, for access to those same new medicines approved for patients.
The study focuses on the period between 2019-20 and 2024-25. It reports that during that time, of 194 drugs approved in both Canada and the United States, approval was granted an average of 91 weeks earlier in the United States.
Meanwhile, of 174 drugs approved in both Canada and Europe during the same period, approval was granted 66 weeks earlier in Europe for those same drugs.
Dr. Kristina Acri, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and an author of the study, points out that the reason for the delay has less to do with red tape or bureaucracy on the Canadian side, although there may be some of that going on.
She notes the actual time it takes for approvals is about the same, but the delay stems from differences in when manufacturers submit new drugs to Health Canada for approval. Those submissions happen in Canada much later compared to the US and Europe.
“It's a lag for Canadians in having the drugs submitted to Health Canada for approval,” Acri said in speaking to SaskToday. “And the reason in which that happens is because of particularities in the Canadian market.”
As one example, Acri said the Canadian market is “much smaller than the market in the US or the EU, so it is just something that companies are willing to wait a little while to launch their drugs in Canada.”
Another issue is that “we know that the Canadian market is characterized by price controls. So instead of being able to freely set the price of the drug that they're introducing, there's a discouragement there for them to bring the drug as quickly to Canada.”
As well, Acri said it is also known that “the patent protection that companies enjoy for their innovations is stronger in the United States than it is in Canada, which is another reason that they are slower to introduce and launch their products in Canada.”
What the Fraser Institute notes is that Canada’s approach duplicates approval processes already in the US and Europe. A major recommendation in the report is to find a way to avoid the duplication, the thinking being that this could cut down on the lag time before approved drugs reach Canadians.
“I think that the most important recommendation that comes out of this study is to think about a mutual agreement in which the process of approval in Health Canada would rely upon the expertise of the US Food and Drug Administration or the European Medicines Agency,” Acri said.
“So if there would be a willingness for Health Canada to accept approval that was done in those jurisdictions, those drugs would be administered and introduced into the Canadian market more quickly. And it could still be possible for Health Canada to do safety surveillance to make sure that these were drugs that were safe and effective for Canadian patients. But if they accepted the approvals by other agencies, they could get to Canadian patients more quickly.”
Acri cited the importance of making sure that due diligence is done to ensure the drugs are safe before they go to market.
“We want to make sure that they're safe and effective, that they don't duplicate the purpose of other drugs that may be available, and that they are going to work effectively in the populations that they are designed for.”
Overall, Acri believes this is an important study for Canadians to “just have an awareness of what's going on and the fact that there are barriers to access for Canadian patients, and at least some of them could be broken down so that Canadians have access to medicine more quickly than they currently do.”
