The annual Drug Data Trends & National Benchmark report by TELUS Health is now available, capturing national and regional trends in the overall utilization of private drug plans and analyses of the top drug categories by eligible amount.
The 2026 report reveals how private drug plan spending is being reshaped by specialty drugs, weight-management medications and the growing adoption of generics and biosimilars, while traditional categories like diabetes face declining market share.
Here are five important takeaways from the 2026 report:
For the third year in a row, more plan members used their private drug plan (61.8 per cent in 2025, 60.5 per cent in 2024 and 58.7 per cent in 2023). Meanwhile, the number of claims per claimant climbed by less than one per cent each year (12.2 in 2025, 12.1 in 2024, 12.0 in 2023).
The uptake of generic and biosimilar drugs reached new heights in 2025, mitigating the growth curve in overall drug-plan spend. Nonetheless, the average annual eligible amount per claimant grew by 4.1 per cent in 2025 (to $1,079.04).
Generic versions of brand-name drugs captured 70.8 per cent of all claims submitted to private drug plans in 2025, the highest level ever reported. This is good news on the cost-savings front and likely represents the broader implementation of generic pricing policies that direct pharmacists to automatically dispense a generic rather than a brand-name drug.
However, 8.4 per cent of claims were for multi-source brand-name drugs, which means that generics were available but not dispensed. This marks the third year of growth for multi-source drugs, up from 7.3 per cent in 2024 and 6.6 per cent in 2023.
Regional factors come into play: generic penetration is highest in Atlantic Canada at 76.5 per cent, and only 5.7 per cent of claims were for multi-source drugs. In Quebec, 69.7 per cent of claims were for generics and 9.3 per cent were for multi-source drugs.
The number of claimants, not the average eligible amount per claim, is driving growth in specialty drugs. While these claimants still represent only 2.1 per cent of the total, they have an outsized impact since these drugs account for more than a third (33.9 per cent) of the drug-plan spend. Ten years ago, half as many claimants (just under one per cent) were taking a specialty drug.
The average annual eligible amount per claimant for specialty drugs was $17,142.46 in 2025, down 2.0 per cent from 2024 ($17,484.62).
The weight-management category is knocking on the door of the top 10 categories by eligible amount. It ranked 11th by the end of 2025, up from 17th position in 2024 and 29th in 2023.
Since 2015 the category has experienced double-digit growth year after year—surging to triple digits in 2024 following the launch of Wegovy (semaglutide) before returning to double digits (61.0 per cent) in 2025. Growth will remain strong given the coming pipeline for increasingly effective therapies, the potential patient population and more plans opting to add the category to their default plan.
That said, lower-cost generics for Wegovy are expected to slow the rate of growth in spending. They may arrive as soon as late this year or early next (although none have yet been submitted to Health Canada for review).
Diabetes (including devices) continues to be at the head of the top 10 drug categories by eligible amount, a position it’s held since 2022. However, its share of the spend has steadily declined, from a high of 15.7 per cent in 2023 to 13.8 per cent in 2024 and 13.2 per cent in 2025.
The introduction of measures to protect against diabetes medications being used for weight management as well as the May 2024 launch of Wegovy, Ozempic’s dedicated weight-management formulation, explain the declines in dollar share. The launch of generics for Ozempic, expected by the end of this year, will likely further reduce the size of the category’s stake—as will the growing use of the federal government’s pharmacare program for diabetes drugs, currently in place in British Columbia, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island.