Before a new drug is approved for use by patients, it must undergo rigorous testing and then be reviewed by regulatory agencies (Health Canada). In Canada, the review process for new drugs is much longer than in other developed countries. The result is that Canadian patients wait significantly longer than patients in other countries for access to new medicines.

The timelines of Canadian drug reviews have been the subject of extensive examination. In order to expedite the review of certain drugs, Health Canada uses a priority review system with a target of approving priority drugs within 150 days. For new drugs approved from January of 1999 to December of 2001, drugs that were subjected to a priority review were approved in an average of 458 days compared to 760 days for drugs that were subject to standard review.