CADTH’s Common Drug Review in the Yukon

CADTH’s Common Drug Review (CDR) provides clinical and pharmacoeconomic evaluations and recommendations that are used by formularies when making decisions to approve drugs.

Jurisdictional drug plans are not obliged to adhere to CDR’s recommendations as local priorities, resources, and the precedence of previous formulary decisions must be considered. In reality, however, the participating public drug plans use CDR’s recommendations to guide their decisions more than 90% of the time.¹

In jurisdictions with small populations that have limited resources for expert committees to do drug evaluations, CDR’s national process offers reassurance that jurisdictional coverage decisions are based on the same clinical and economic assessments. According to Dianne Tait, the Manager of Pharmaceutical and Extended Benefits Programs for the Yukon, “The CDR process has helped to better align the provincial and territorial formularies.”

In the Yukon, prior to the launch of CDR, the Yukon Formulary Working Group (YFWG) looked to the Saskatchewan Formulary when making drug coverage decisions. From 2003 on, the YFWG listing decisions have been made with consideration given to CDR recommendations. Tait also noted that it is beneficial to be able to direct Yukon physicians, pharmacists, and residents to the CADTH website to read CDR recommendations.

CDR was established in 2002 by federal and jurisdictional health ministries in an effort to avoid duplication of drug assessments, improve the quality and consistency of the review process, and to harmonize the pan-Canadian differences in drug coverage. Ever since its launch, CDR has received 197 drug submissions, 149 of which have received final recommendations and 21 of which are currently being reviewed. 

Reference

1. Tierney M, et al. CMAJ 2008;178(4).