title: How cheap are Canada's drugs really?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This article compares pharmaceutical prices paid by governments in the United States and Canada.
  
  
  METHODS
  The comparator prices are those of the Federal Supply Schedule and the Ontario Drug Benefit List, for frequently prescribed brand name medicines.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The price differential between Canadian and US prices is shown to be relatively small, when considering prices charged to governments.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Buyer power exercised by governments is very important in reducing pharmaceutical prices and comparisons between retail prices in the US and government prices in Canada are therefore inappropriate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. ahollis@ucalgary.ca
authors.forename: Aidan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hollis
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D009864:Ontario; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000191:economics*; D014481:United States; D037041:United States Government Agencies
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations