Quarterly Financial Report for the Quarter Ended December 31, 2020: Patented Medicine Prices Review Board

Management Statement for the Quarter Ended December 31, 2020

1. Introduction

This quarterly report has been prepared by management as required by section 65.1 of the Financial Administration Act and in the form and manner prescribed by the Treasury Board Accounting Standard (TBAS) 1.3. This quarterly report should be read in conjunction with the Main Estimates and Supplementary Estimates.

1.1 Authority, Mandate and Program Activities

The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) is an independent, quasi-judicial body created by Parliament as a result of amendments to the Patent Act (Act) in 1987 (Bill C-22) and its remedial powers were supplemented by further amendments in 1993 (Bill C-91). The amendments were intended to balance stronger patent protection for pharmaceutical patentees with the need to protect consumers from excessively priced patented medicines.

The PMPRB is composed of “Staff”, who are public servants responsible for carrying out the organization’s day to day work, and Board Members, Governor-in-Council appointees who serve as hearing panel members in the event of a dispute between Staff and a patentee over the price of a patented medicine.

If the price of a patented medicine appears to be excessive, Staff will first try to reach a consensual resolution with the patentee. Failing this, the Chairperson^{Footnote 1} can decide that the matter should proceed to a hearing. The Chairperson decides the composition of a panel. Provincial and territorial ministers of health have a statutory right to appear before the panel as parties, and other interested parties or groups may seek leave to participate as interveners.

At the hearing, a panel composed of Board Members acts as a neutral arbiter between Staff and the patentee. If a panel finds that the price of a patented medicine is excessive, it can order a reduction of the price to a non-excessive level. It can also order a patentee to make a monetary payment to the Government of Canada in the amount of the excess revenues earned and, in cases where the panel determines there has been a policy of excessive pricing, it can double the amount of the monetary payment.

The PMPRB has a dual role:

Regulatory: To ensure that prices charged by patentees for patented medicines sold in Canada are not excessive.

Reporting: To report on pharmaceutical trends of all medicines, and on research and development (R&D) spending by pharmaceutical patentees.

Further details on the PMPRB’s authority, mandate and program activities may be found in the Departmental Plan and the Main Estimates.

1.2 Basis of Presentation

This quarterly report has been prepared by management using an expenditure basis of accounting. The accompanying Statement of Authorities includes the PMPRB’s spending authorities granted by Parliament and those used by the organization, consistent with the Main Estimates and Supplementary Estimates for the 2020-21 fiscal year. This quarterly report has been prepared using a special purpose financial reporting framework designed to meet financial information needs with respect to the use of spending authorities.

The authority of Parliament is required before moneys can be spent by the Government.  Approvals are given in the form of annually approved limits through appropriation acts or through legislation in the form of statutory spending authority for specific purposes.

When Parliament is dissolved for the purposes of a general election, section 30 of the Financial Administration Act authorizes the Governor General, under certain conditions, to issue a special warrant authorizing the Government to withdraw funds from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF). A special warrant is deemed to be an appropriation for the fiscal year in which it is issued.

As part of the departmental performance reporting process, the PMPRB prepares its annual departmental financial statements on a full accrual basis in accordance with Treasury Board accounting policies, which are based on Canadian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for the public sector. However, the spending authorities voted by Parliament remain on an expenditure basis.

The quarterly report has not been subject to an external audit or review.

2. Highlights of Fiscal Quarter and Fiscal Year to Date (YTD) Results

This quarterly financial report reflects the results of the current fiscal period in relation to the Main Estimates. The PMPRB’s YTD spending increased by $1.8 million (22%), from $8.3 million in 2019-20 to $10.1 million in 2020-21 and Q3 spending of 2020-21 increased by $0.5 million (12%) compared to spending for the same quarter in 2019-20.

The money reported in the PMPRB’s Annual Financial Statements as non-respendable revenue is a result of payments to the Government of Canada made by patentees through Voluntary Compliance Undertakings (VCUs)^{Footnote 2} or Board Orders to offset excess revenues.  The Minister of Health may enter into agreements with any province respecting the distribution to that province of amounts received by the Receiver General, less any costs incurred in relation to the collection and distribution of those amounts. In 2020-21, as a result of COVID-19, the PMPRB put a temporary hold on collecting repayment of excess revenues; the hold ceased in October 2020. Therefore, no revenues were collected before Q3 and $0.3 million were collected YTD and in Q3 in 2020-21, as compared to $3.4 million YTD and no revenues in Q3 in 2019-20.

Revenues that are non-respendable are not available to discharge the PMPRB’s liabilities. While the Chairperson is expected to maintain accounting control, he has no authority regarding the disposition of non-respendable revenues. As a result, non-respendable revenues are considered to be earned on behalf of the Government of Canada and are not therefore presented as a reduction to the entity's total gross budgetary expenditures.

2.1 Significant Changes to Authority

As shown in the Statement of Authorities of this document, total authorities available for the year increased by $1 million (6%) from $17.3 million to $18.3 million. As announced in Budget 2017, this increase in funding is primarily attributable to reforming and modernizing Canada’s drug price regulation framework to better address today’s patented medicines pricing environment.

2.2 Significant Changes to Budgetary Expenditures by Standard Object

This section elaborates on variances in expenditures, Statutory items and Vote 1 by standard object to explain changes in spending trends from the same quarter of the previous year.

Overall, YTD spending increased by $1.8 million (22%), and Q3 spending increased by $0.5 million (12%).

For “Personnel”, YTD and Q3 spending increased by $208 thousand and decreased by $404 thousand respectively. The YTD increase is mainly due to hiring of additional personnel needed to operationalize the aforementioned reforms to the PMPRB’s regulatory framework. The Q3 decrease is due to one less pay period being processed in the same timeframe for 2020-21, as well as retroactive payments for collective agreements in Q3 2019-20.

For “Transportation and communications”, YTD and Q3 spending decreased by $124 thousand and $52 thousand respectively due to a significant reduction in travel related expenses as a result of COVID-19 travel restrictions.

For “Information”, YTD and Q3 spending increased by $49 thousand and $21 thousand respectively. This is due to increased prices of patented medicine related information upon which we base our reports.

For “Professional and special services”, YTD and Q3 spending increased by $967 thousand and $875 thousand respectively. This is due to an increase in expenditures for litigation-related services for PMPRB hearings and judicial reviews.

For “Purchased repair and maintenance”, YTD and Q3 spending increased by $913 thousand and $232 thousand respectively. This is due to the construction of hearing facilities for the PMPRB, paid fully by the PMPRB. Though the PMPRB underwent a Workplace 2.0 conversion in 2019-20,those costs were split with Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) and were therefore comparatively lower.

For “Acquisition of machinery and equipment”, YTD and Q3 spending decreased by $229 thousand and $202 thousand respectively. In 2019-20, as a result of a conversion to Workplace 2.0, the PMPRB purchased more IT equipment and furniture than usual. As such, the purchases for 2020-21 are comparatively lower.

For “Other subsidies and payments”, YTD and Q3 spending increased by $8 thousand and $27 thousand respectively. This variance is due to salary overpayments.

There were no significant variances to report in the other standard objects.

3. Risks and Uncertainties

The PMPRB is funded through annual appropriations. As a result, its operations are impacted by any changes in funding approved through Parliament. The PMPRB has no authority to spend revenues received during the year as a result of payments made by patentees to the Government of Canada through VCU’s or Board Orders to offset excess revenues.

The PMPRB’s funding includes a Special Purpose Allotment (SPA) to conduct Public Hearings, in Vote 1 (Program expenditures) of $5.3 million. The SPA can only be used to cover the costs of public hearings, such as external legal counsel and expert witnesses, etc. Any unspent amount is returned to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF). The PMPRB’s expenditures are influenced by the number and complexity of investigations into the prices of patented medicines, the number of investigations that result in hearings and the number of hearing decisions that form the basis of judicial review applications, all of which are inherently unpredictable.

The PMPRB’s most significant expenditure is “Personnel”, representing 57% of its annual planned expenditures. Given the highly specialized nature of its consumer protection mandate, the PMPRB must continue to attract and retain subject matter experts. Given the organization’s small size, the departure or hiring of a handful of employees in one quarter can have a significant impact on the quarter’s expenditures.

4. Significant changes in relation to operations, personnel and programs

Changes to Key Senior Personnel

There have been no significant changes this quarter.

Changes to Programs

There have been no significant changes in relation to programs over the last year.

Approval by senior officials

Approved by:

Ottawa, Canada
February 23, 2021

Statement of authorities (unaudited)

¹ Includes only Authorities available for use and granted by Parliament at quarter end
^(S) Statutory vote

Table 1: Departmental budgetary expenditures by Standard Object

¹ Includes only Authorities available for use and granted by Parliament at quarter end