Don’t look now, but Canada’s drug prices are about to get even lower...

Just as America attempts to raid Canada’s medicine cabinets for cheaper drugs, the country is trying to make them even cheaper (for Canadians.) The Trudeau government announced new regulations last week that are expected to save Canadians $13 billion on prescription drugs over the next decade. 

The changes are mostly tweaks to the way that Canada's Patented Medicine Price Review Board, the federal agency that’s tasked with setting drug prices, actually sets those prices. Namely, they moved to exclude the United States and Switzerland from the benchmarking system the board uses to determine what companies can charge for drugs. 

The change has prompted some serious snark from Americans, who are already envious of Canada’s comparably low drug prices. “Because Canadians realize that even $30 for a vial of insulin is too expensive for some,” Lija Greenseid, one of the advocates who traveled to Canada back in May to buy cheaper insulin across the border tweeted. 

Some Canadian lawmakers have pitched the latest changes as a way to move toward  a national "Pharmacare" system, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has recently advocated. That proposal would create a national drug insurance program for all Canadians, and could save Canada $4.2 billion per year.