Program directory · Health Canada
Pharmaceutical Drugs
- Department
- Health Canada
- Program code
- BVH01 (H)
- Core responsibility
- Health Protection and Promotion
- In Departmental Plans
- 2018-19 – 2026-27 · New since an earlier plan
What it does
The Program is responsible for ensuring pharmaceutical drugs sold in Canada meet the safety, effectiveness and quality requirements of the Food and Drug Regulations (the Regulations). It verifies that these regulatory requirements are met through pre-market submission reviews, risk-benefit assessments, monitoring, surveillance, compliance, and enforcement activities. It also provides information to Canadians and health professionals to enable informed decision making about product use. Target stakeholders include industry (including market authorization holders, and registered establishment license holders), health professionals and practitioners, and Canadians. Key stakeholder roles are to comply with responsibilities under the Food and Drugs Act and Regulations (industry); to promote the appropriate use of pharmaceutical drugs (health professionals and practitioners); and to report adverse reactions, also known as side effects, to Health Canada (industry; health care professionals/practitioners, hospitals; and Canadians).
Source: the department's Program Inventory, via GC InfoBase.
History and lineage
First appears in GC InfoBase's actual spending by program in 2018-19. The data does not record when a program was created; it may be older than its first appearance here, which is limited by the sources (program spending starts in 2010-11, Departmental Plans in 2018-19).
| Program | Relation | Years with data | Actual spending over those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pharmaceutical Drugs | This program | 2018-19 – 2028-29 | $717M |
No earlier or later program in the same department has a similar name.
Significant changes in scope and budget
Detected from the data: renames between plans, programs it appears to replace, merge with or split into (matched by name), year-over-year changes in spending of at least 25% and $5M, or in employees of at least 20% and 25 FTEs, linked budget measures, and results indicators added or dropped.
| Year | What changed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | Spending $174M, against $85.9M in 2018-19 (+103%). | Actual spending (GC InfoBase) |
| 2020-21 | Spending $96.7M, against $174M in 2019-20 (−45%). | Actual spending (GC InfoBase) |
| 2025-26 | Planned spending $103M, against $74.5M in 2024-25 (+39%). | Latest Departmental Plan |
Success criteria
The program's indicators from its department's Departmental Results Framework: the target set in each year's plan, and the result reported the following year. Source: GC InfoBase.
Historical: targets against results
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 80% – 90% | 2019 | 83% | Met |
| 2019-20 | ≥ 80% | 2020 | 82% | Met |
| 2020-21 | ≥ 80% | 2021 | 89% | Met |
| 2021-22 | ≥ 80% | 2022 | 90% | Met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ 80% | 2023 | 87% | Met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ 80% | 2024 | 87.3% | Met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ 80% | 2025 | 83.9% | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 90% – 100% | 2019 | 100% | Met |
| 2019-20 | ≥ 90% | 2020 | 67% Four out of six risk communications were disseminated within service standards. Given that the total number of risk communications is small, missing a service standard will have a disproportionate effect on overall performance. | Not met |
| 2020-21 | ≥ 90% | 2021 | 92% | Met |
| 2021-22 | ≥ 90% | 2022 | 100% | Met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ 90% | 2023 | 93% | Met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ 90% | 2024 | 100% | Met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ 90% | 2025 | 96% | Met |
Current: the 2026-27 plan's targets
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 80% | 2027 | — | Planned |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 90% | 2027 | — | Planned |
Future goals: targets due after 2026-27
No targets with a later due date.
Spending and employees: planned against actual
Spending
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | $88M | $85.9M |
| 2019-20 | $71.2M | $174M |
| 2020-21 | $72.8M | $96.7M |
| 2021-22 | $444M | $93.2M |
| 2022-23 | $83M | $93.7M |
| 2023-24 | $87.6M | $98.3M |
| 2024-25 | $97.8M | $74.5M |
| 2025-26 | $103M | — |
| 2026-27 | $102M | — |
| 2027-28 | $97.2M* | — |
| 2028-29 | $93.6M* | — |
Employees (FTEs)
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 1,173 | 1,029 |
| 2019-20 | 1,115 | 1,154 |
| 2020-21 | 1,133 | 1,223 |
| 2021-22 | 1,191 | 1,343 |
| 2022-23 | 1,379 | 1,330 |
| 2023-24 | 1,421 | 1,307 |
| 2024-25 | 1,401 | 1,282 |
| 2025-26 | 1,405 | — |
| 2026-27 | 1,413 | — |
| 2027-28 | 1,424* | — |
| 2028-29 | 1,358* | — |
Planned spending, plan by plan
Each row is one year's Departmental Plan and its forecast for the next three fiscal years; read a column down to see how the forecast for one year changed. The last row is what was actually spent. Click an amount for its source. Biggest changes in federal spending plans
| Plan | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 | 2028-29 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 plan | $87,955,778 | $68,825,236 | $68,360,210 | ||||||||
| 2019-20 plan | $71,213,629 | $70,749,080 | $69,392,075 | ||||||||
| 2020-21 plan | $72,754,162 | $71,496,235 | $65,286,185 | ||||||||
| 2021-22 plan | $444,171,082 | $76,474,498 | $75,239,146 | ||||||||
| 2022-23 plan | $82,972,951 | $83,017,245 | $81,125,273 | ||||||||
| 2023-24 plan | $87,592,885 | $85,699,277 | $85,431,605 | ||||||||
| 2024-25 plan | $97,830,799 | $99,397,423 | $98,497,506 | ||||||||
| 2025-26 plan | $103,482,660 | $101,584,393 | $100,327,494 | ||||||||
| 2026-27 plan | $101,535,965 | $97,171,238 | $93,626,478 | ||||||||
| Actual | $85,905,971 | $174,257,405 | $96,684,732 | $93,227,254 | $93,731,420 | $98,317,176 | $74,505,824 |
Actual spending is from Departmental Results Reports and the Public Accounts, as published in GC InfoBase. FTEs are full-time equivalents.
