The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board’s 2025-26 Departmental Plan: At a glance
A departmental plan describes a department’s priorities, plans, and associated costs for the upcoming three fiscal years.
Key priorities
The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB)’s top priorities for 2025-26 are as follows:
- Finalize and implement new PMPRB Guidelines that promote procedural efficiency, transparency, and predictability.
Following consultations on draft Guidelines in 2024-25, the PMPRB will develop and issue final Guidelines to take effect before the end of 2025-26. The Board intends these Guidelines to achieve two main objectives: to enhance the Board’s administrative efficiency, and to provide transparency and predictability to Rights Holders on the procedures followed by Staff to identify potential hearing candidates. Guidelines are being developed to address July 2022 amendments to the Patented Medicine Regulations. Rights Holders have been filing pricing information based on the amendments since 2022.
- Implement and communicate new PMPRB Guidelines and related processes.
To support the implementation of new Guidelines, the PMPRB will update its internal database and will work to maximize the efficiency of internal price review and hearings procedures. The PMPRB is committed to clear and transparent communication to support the transition and ensure that Rights Holders understand their reporting responsibilities.
Highlights
In 2025-26, total planned spending (including internal services) for the PMPRB is $18,128,932 and total planned full-time equivalent staff (including internal services) is 81. For complete information on the PMPRB’s total planned spending and human resources, read the Planned spending and human resources section of the full plan.
The following provides a summary of the department’s planned achievements for 2025-26 according to its approved Departmental Results Framework. A Departmental Results Framework consists of a department’s core responsibilities, the results it plans to achieve, and the performance indicators that measure progress toward these results.
Note that planned spending and human resources for the PMPRB’s core responsibility given below do not include internal services.
Core responsibility 1: Monitor Patented Medicine Prices
Planned spending: $14,628,709
Planned human resources: 58
Departmental results:
- Timely and effective monitoring of patented medicine price information provided by Rights Holders
Following the development of draft Guidelines in 2024-25, the PMPRB will be engaged in finalizing, implementing, and communicating final Guidelines in 2025-26. This work will include a review of relevant processes needed to support the transition to new Guidelines, which are expected to take effect in January 2026.
The PMPRB will also continue to monitor the pharmaceutical market in Canada and to deliver high-quality reporting to the Minister of Health. Along with regular reports and series, publications planned for 2025-26 include analytic reports on private drug plans in Canada and on generic and biosimilar medicines.
More information about Monitor Patented Medicine Prices can be found in the full plan.
Internal Services
Planned spending: $3,500,223
Planned human resources: 23
Departmental results:
- The PMPRB has two priorities for internal services in 2025-26:
- continuing work on the PMPRB’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) workplan, with a focus on representation, mentorship and sponsorship, and modernizing staff codes of conducts; and
- conducting an information management project on the retention and disposition of documents.
More information about Internal Services can be found in the full plan.