The pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review (pCODR) was established in 2010 to bring consistent oncology drug assessments across Canadian provinces/territories. In April 2014, pCODR was transferred to the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH). This transfer comprised two phases. In phase one, pCODR staff, processes, funding, and expertise remained intact as a program but under the government of CADTH. In phase two, beginning April 2015, better alignment of pCODR and CADTH evaluation criteria and review processes were explored. This research aims to see what effect the CADTH transfer has had on the number of appraisals conducted by pCODR and their recommendation rates.

All publically available pCODR reports were extracted up to 22nd November 2017. The drug, indication, date and outcome were extracted. Statistical comparisons were made using Student's t-test.

Ninety-six appraisals have been conducted by pCODR, reflecting an average of 16 per year (10 in 2012, 18 in 2013, 9 in 2014, 24 in 2015, 19 in 2016, and 20 in 2017). The rate of appraisals was similar pre-CADTH transfer (14.2 per year [32 from January 2012 to March 2014]) versus post-CADTH transfer (13.7 per year [56 from April 2014 to November 2017]). Seventy-eight percent of pCODR outcomes were positive recommendations (defined as full recommendations [10 percent] or restricted/conditional recommendations [68 percent]) with 22 percent not recommended. Annually, positive recommendation rates were 70 percent in 2012, 89 percent in 2013, 78 percent in 2014, 79 percent in 2015, 74 percent in 2016, and 75 percent in 2017. There were no significant differences in recommendation rates since pCODR was transferred to CADTH irrespective if the phase one or phase two cut-off dates were used (p = 0.434 and 0.307, respectively).

The number of appraisals and likelihood of a positive recommendation for oncology drugs has not been affected by the pCODR transfer to CADTH.