Canada’s Drug Agency launches first strategic plan: Insight to Impact 2025–2030

Canada’s Drug Agency (CDA) has launched its first five-year strategic plan, Insight to Impact 2025–2030, setting out national priorities to strengthen evidence-based decision-making across drug, health technology, and health system initiatives.

“This is our first strategic plan as Canada’s Drug Agency and we used the opportunity to define who we are, what we do, and how we can provide ever-improving value for decision-makers, patients, and health systems across the country,” the agency stated. Formerly known as CADTH, Canada’s Drug Agency adopted its new identity on May 1, 2024, reflecting an expanded mandate while building on its established expertise in evidence-informed decision-making.

The plan outlines three strategic priorities: Anticipate, Innovate, and Transform. These priorities are supported by five guiding principles: excellence, agility, partnership, inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility, and integrity.

Under Anticipate, CDA aims to deliver forward-looking insights that help decision-makers navigate rapid innovation and growing system complexity. “We will monitor and assess emerging trends and changes in the drug and health technology landscape,” the agency noted, adding that it will “signal drug and health technology innovations that could disrupt health system performance or sustainability.”

The Innovate priority seeks to realize the full potential of evidence, expanding beyond traditional clinical and economic assessments to include broader impacts such as quality of life, system capacity, and care delivery. CDA emphasized the need for flexibility, stating,

“We will be flexible and agile, continuing to test and scale innovative approaches that maximize what we know and how we can use it.”

The third priority, Transform, highlights the need for coordinated, system-level action. “Insufficient coordination and collaboration can lead to duplicated efforts, missed opportunities, and inefficiencies,” CDA observed. The agency intends to serve as a catalyst for joint efforts that address both system challenges and patient needs, particularly for equity-deserving communities.

The plan was shaped by broad engagement, including four national town halls, interviews with over 45 system leaders, a public survey, and contributions from CDA staff and partners. “Broad-based engagement and research were used to identify priority opportunities, challenges, and better ways to connect with our broader ecosystem,” the agency reported.

Looking ahead to 2030, CDA envisions a landscape where, “health system decision-makers are equipped with the best available evidence,” patients have, “better access to the drug and health technologies that will improve their health outcomes,” and Canada’s health technology environment is, “modern, sustainable, and connected.”

As CDA concluded,

“We are inspired by the future and ready to collaborate with many interested parties… Together, we can achieve transformative, sustainable, and positive change for generations to come.”