Healthcare, Pharmaceutical and Biotech Companies in Vancouver

Healthcare, Pharmaceutical and Biotech Companies in Vancouver, Britsih Columbia

Canadian pharmaceutical sector

The pharmaceutical sector is one of the leading innovative industries in Canada. It consists of companies that develop and manufacture new drugs and generic pharmaceuticals, as well as over-the-counter drugs. The sector consists of several sub-sectors serving different market segments. These include pharmaceutical brands, generic pharmaceuticals, biopharmaceutical small and medium-sized enterprises (biopharmaceuticals), contract research organizations (CROs) and contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs).

Size and structure of the industry

Canadian pharmaceutical sales account for 2.1% of the world market, making Canada the 9th largest market in the world. Since 2015, annual composition growth has remained positive at 5.1% (IQVIA Pharmafocus 2024).
Companies conduct research and development (R&D) to develop new or improved patented therapies, while others develop bioequivalent copies of new drugs as soon as they patent. The evolving fields of biopharmaceuticals include gene and cell therapies and nanomedicine.
Branded products charge 81.3% of Canadian sales on price and 27.1% of recipes on quantity. Generics account for others (IQVIA PharmaFocus 2024). By 2020, the industry’s share of production averaged about 31,500 people, and employment has grown by 15.5% in the last 5 years (Canadian statistics; Table 14-10-0201-01).
The industry is focused primarily on the metropolitan areas of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.