In 2017, the Quebec Government and CGPA reached a landmark agreement on prescription drug pricing, which provided substantial savings for the province’s health-care system.  This five-year agreement has helped secure the supply of cost saving medicines and contributed to the ongoing viability of the generic pharmaceutical industry, which is responsible for more than 4,000 jobs in Quebec’s life-science’s sector.

The agreement includes price discounts for a wide range of generic medicines and commitments that encourage the launch and availability of new cost-saving generics, which is estimated to save an additional 1.5-billion dollars over the term of the agreement. 

Overall, the use of generic prescription medicines in Quebec has saved an estimated 32-billion dollars over the past five years.