Angelique Berg
President & CEO, CAPDM
Simona Zar
Senior Vice-President of Government Relations, CAPDM
As medication demand grows, Canadian pharmaceutical distributors are playing an increasingly important role in ensuring equitable patient access.
In Canada, the need for essential medications is on the rise, with approximately one in two Canadian adults and one in four Canadian children requiring prescription medications each month.1 Access to medication has a significant impact on quality of life, which makes it more important than ever for the country’s pharmaceutical supply chain to ensure consistent, equitable patient access.2
Recently, the Canadian Association for Pharmacy Distribution Management (CAPDM) released a landmark report — based on analysis conducted by IQVIA Canada — that shined a spotlight on the critical and timely role of pharmaceutical distributors in safeguarding Canadians’ equitable access to essential medications. From bustling urban centres to remote communities, pharmaceutical distributors are responsible for delivering approximately 90 per cent of all prescription medications in Canada, fulfilling an average of 240,000 orders per week.3
Ensuring equitable and timely medication access for Canadians
Canada’s vast geography — along with extreme temperature fluctuations, infrastructure where only 40 per cent of roads are paved, and the growing frequency of natural disasters and climate-related events — poses significant challenges for pharmaceutical distributors operating 30 distribution centres across the country. These centres play a vital yet overlooked role in delivering essential medications to nearly 13,000 hospitals and pharmacies across the country.4 Amid the challenges of delivering medications across the world’s second-largest country, the report found that distributors are effectively meeting the needs of rural and remote communities.
“Reaching patients, especially in remote and rural areas, often requires more time and resources, specialized logistics, and higher costs,” says Angelique Berg, President and CEO of CAPDM. “Despite those higher costs, our members remain committed to ensuring safe, secure, and timely delivery of medications to every corner of the country. To keep that balance, distributors leverage their centralized systems’ route optimization and technology-driven logistics — anything they can to innovate, streamline, and make the supply chain safer and more secure.”
Even though their role is critical, pharmaceutical distributors remain largely invisible as they navigate growing demand for medications, as well as regulatory pressures and rising operational costs. With a government-regulated funding framework that has remained relatively stagnant for more than 15 years and growing distribution demands driven by the rise of temperature-controlled, cold-chain medications (such as biologics and specialty drugs), equitable access has become more complex.
Building a stronger health care system in Canada
“As distribution becomes more complex, the need grows for recognition, coordinated planning across the healthcare system, and infrastructure support to ensure lifesaving medicines reach Canadians — wherever they live,” says Simona Zar, Senior Vice-President of Government Relations at CAPDM
To ensure hospitals, pharmacies, and clinics are supplied with essential, lifesaving medications for Canadians, CAPDM serves as a strong advocate on behalf of its members. As stakeholders and governments work to modernize health care delivery, CAPDM says that pharmaceutical distributors must be recognized as strategic partners and be involved in health system planning early on.
“Recognizing their role would lead to more effective coordination across sectors to ensure that new healthcare models account for the realities and demands of medicine distribution,” says Zar.
Investing in supply chain innovations for a healthier future
Pharmaceutical distributors play a key role in managing complex inventories, delivering specialty medications safely, and supporting emergency preparedness planning. To ensure these pillars remain strong and to ensure a stable supply of medications now and in the future, Berg says it’s important for Canada to invest in innovative supply chain improvements that keep it flexible and resilient.
“A resilient health system needs a resilient distribution backbone, and that starts with recognition and action at all levels of government,” says Berg.
To learn more about CAPDM and read the full report, visit capdm.ca.
