The Quebec government recently announced, as part of its budget, the intended abolishment of the rule known as "BAP-15." Under the BAP-15 policy, which has been in place since 1994, the Quebec government would pay the cost of the brand for 15 years for publicly covered patients, even if a generic competitor entered onto the formulary before that time. Although the 15-year rule was put in place with the balancing "best available price rule" (meaning that the manufacturer's selling price for a covered product in the province of Quebec could be no more than the selling price under other provincial plans), so far there has been no formal announcement of any change to that aspect of the policy in Quebec. In other words, the most favoured nation type of policy for Quebec remains in place vis-à-vis pricing of products in other provinces.

The RAMQ has now issued an Infolettre, dated December 14, 2012, announcing that as of January 14, 2013, the 15-year rule in respect of multi-source products will be abolished, and that the mechanism of annual price increases has also been abolished. Accordingly to the Infolettre, the prices of all products on the Liste des medicaments will be maintained at their current level. It is, however, possible for a manufacturer to submit a lower price.

The RAMQ advisory, in French, may be found at: http://www.ramq.gouv.qc.ca/SiteCollectionDocuments/
professionnels/infolettres/2012/info229-2.pdf.

The pricing and reimbursement landscape for pharmaceutical and biologic products in Canada is ever-changing. We will be monitoring developments in the Quebec market, with a view to reporting on updates as they arise.

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