As a federal administrative body created under the Patent
Act, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) has a
mandate of ensuring that the prices of patented medicines sold in
Canada are not “excessive”. In August 2019, the
Governor in Council enacted significant amendments to the
Patented Medicines Regulations. The PMPRB has once again
announced a delay in the implementation of these amendments, this
time to July 1, 2021. This last-minute notice to the pharmaceutical
industry follows the decision of the Québec Superior Court
of December 18, 2020, which upheld the constitutionality of the
provisions of the Patent Act that establish the PMPRB and
the majority of the recent amendments to the
Regulations1.
