New medicines are often blamed for being a major health cost driver in Canada but the reality is that they account for a relatively small proportion of health care spending growth. But they bring value by reducing hospitalizations, preventing disease, and allowing people to live longer within their own homes. In the future, as the promise of more medical innovation is fulfilled, more health spending should be on medicines and vaccines that reduce the need for hospitalizations and other more costly services.

Health Canada recently issued an advisory warning Canadians to avoid purchasing medications from three online pharmacies:  www.northdrugmart.com, www.northdrugstore.com, and www.pharmacyrxworld.com.  Health Canada has identified products for sale on these sites that are not authorized for sale in Canada, but have been altered to resemble products that are approved for sale -- as such, these products are suspected of being counterfeit.

According to a recently released report comparing international usage of prescription drugs, Canada ranks second-last (thirteenth out of 14 countries). The report – Extent and Causes of International Variations in Drug Usage – was conducted for the UK Secretary of State for Health to determine whether the UK is adequately providing for the health needs of its citizens.

The report noted that "Medicines play an important role in the management of most diseases. In recent years, there have been important changes in the drugs that are used to treat many conditions. This has helped to make many conditions more treatable, thus improving patient outcomes."

"... ensuring that are used appropriately has an important part to play in delivering high-quality, fair, safe and effective NHS services."

Overall, the UK ranks 8th (5 places better than Canada). As a result of this mid-level ranking, Britain is providing an extra 50 million pounds ($78 million) to pay for cancer medicines from October, bringing forward a government promise to give access to drugs even if they have not been approved by cost watchdog NICE.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Common Drug Review continues to provide negative recommendations to medicines often approved elsewhere – denying Canadians access to new, effective treatments.

The report also notes that "countries with well-developed health technology assessment processes appear to have similar levels of uptake across some disease areas (for example, the UK, Sweden, Australia and Canada all appear to have similar rankings in a number of areas)."

Unfortunately, similar doesn't mean better.