How Canada Ranks International Report The 2010-2011 Rx&D International Report on Access to Medicines (IRAM) report aims to promote a discussion with our health partners about the challenges we face to build the sustainable health care systems we need. Despite the benefits of new medicines for people to improve health care outcomes and help sustain our health care system, IRAM has consistently shown that Canada's public drug plans provide less access to new medicines compared to almost all other developed nations. The 2010-2011 IRAM report compares how drug plans in Canada and 31 OECD countries are publicly reimbursed. The Report considers a total of 173 drugs covering 213 indications for medicines introduced between 2004 and December 2010. View the full report. The Report shows that: On average, 48% of CDR-reviewed drugs/indications and cancer drugs/indications are publicly listed in Canada, as at July 31, 2011. When looking at the chart below, we see that the reimbursement percentage for the 31 other OECD countries is 83.5%. The range goes from a low of just above 30% in Estonia to a high of 100% in 6 OECD countries. First-in-Class: There are 55 first-in-class drugs covering 72 indications in this report. First-in-Class Findings Whereas, the CDR positively recommended that 30% of these first-in-class drugs be reimbursed on public plans, we see that the Canadian public plans actually list, on average, 38% of these first-in-class drugs. On average, 81.4% of first-in-class drugs/indications are reimbursed in the other countries in the study. Canada ranks in 31st position when it comes to access to first-in-class drugs. Cancer Drugs: In terms of oncology drugs Canada ranks 26th out of 32 countries studied when looking at the public coverage of 50 cancer drugs covering 71 indications. We see that 57% of cancer drugs studied are covered publicly in Canada compared to an average of 79.9% in the 31 other OECD countries studied.