Pramana by VedAGI, for Canadian market access teams

A lock on the numbers.

Drug companies already have the model and already use AI to write the submission. Pramana makes sure every number that leaves was computed from source, labeled honestly, signed by a person, and can be checked by the reviewer on the other side.

Pramana is Sanskrit for proof: a means of valid knowledge.

Try it: Year-1 budget impact

Not checked
  • Agency application$2.1M
  • French version for INESSS2,1 M$
  • pCPA materials$1.9M
  • Executive summaryabout $2M
Uptake 12%Estimate
Figure
Year-1 budget impact, public drug plans
Value
$2.1M (CAD)
Formula
treated_y1 × net_cost − displaced
Sources
BIA_model.xlsx, Results!C14
AI use
Formula suggested by AI, value computed in code
Signed by
Named signer, market access

Example numbers only. Pramana blocks the pack and people fix it. It never quietly edits a figure.

The idea

The whole idea in one minute

Teams already build the model and already use AI to write the pack. The number then hides inside the writing, a person signs it anyway, and the other side cannot check it.

Pramana recalculates each number from source, marks guesses as guesses, refuses to release until a person signs, and gives the other side a receipt they can open in a browser. Same pack. Same model. The leak is closed.

  • Keepyour model
  • Keepyour writer, AI or human
  • Keepyour reviewers and signer
  • Addthe lock on the numbers
906 days

average wait from Health Canada approval to a first public listing1

27%

higher 3-year budget impact, median, after the agency reran company numbers2

+652 days

average extra wait after a “do not reimburse” recommendation1

The path

How a Canadian evidence pack gets made

A company has a drug approved by Health Canada and wants public drug plans to pay for it. The numbers travel a long way before anyone is covered.

01

The science is already done

Trials, prices and patient counts sit in spreadsheets and source files.

02

They already have a model

A cost-effectiveness model and a budget impact model. Canada's Drug Agency asks for models it can trace, with no hidden hard-coding 3.

03

The team builds the application

A reimbursement review application to Canada's Drug Agency, a French version for INESSS in Quebec, and later pCPA and provincial materials.

04

The words get written The leak starts here

Often by an AI assistant now. The agency says any AI use must be declared, and the company stays accountable for every word 4.

05

Internal review and sign-off

Medical, regulatory and market access leads approve it and a named person signs. They trust the numbers match the model.

06

The agency reviews and reruns

Reviewers at Canada's Drug Agency or INESSS often rerun the model and change the company's numbers 2.

07

Negotiate, then list

pCPA negotiates a price and signs a letter of intent, which is only an option to fund. Each province then signs its own listing agreement 6.

On average it takes 906 days from Health Canada approval to a first public drug plan listing 1. Any number that has to be explained or fixed adds months to that path.

The gap

Where it breaks: one number, many copies

The weak joint is not whether AI can write. It is that whoever writes each sentence can copy, round, translate, or quietly change the number inside it. In Canada the same number is reused in several documents and two languages.

One number, many copies The model holds $2.1M. Five documents copy it. One copy has drifted and one is rounded without a label. Readers see all of them. The model $2.1M Agency application $2.1M INESSS (French) 2,1 M$ pCPA materials $1.9M Changed in a rewrite.Nobody noticed. Provincial briefing $2.1M Executive summary ≈ $2M Rounded, with no label.Fact or guess? Readers Canada's DrugAgency INESSS pCPA Provinces

Copies drift apart

One figure lives in several documents and two languages. A hand edit, a translation or an AI rewrite changes one copy and not the others.

Guesses look like facts

An uptake assumption reads like hard data because nothing marked it as an estimate.

Signers sign prose

The person signing cannot recompute every figure from source. The agency then reruns it and finds the gaps.

No trail when someone asks

When the agency or pCPA asks where a number came from, teams dig through emails and old spreadsheets.

Canadian rules already point this way

On AI use

Canada's Drug Agency asks companies to declare how AI was used, keep a capable human in the loop, and stay accountable for everything in the submission 4.

On models

The agency requires economic and budget impact models with a transparent trace, not hard-coded by hidden macros, and its reviewers rerun them 3.

On promotion

When coverage claims are later reused in promotional pieces for health professionals, adding or changing them needs PAAB pre-clearance 5.

The industry already has models, writers and signers. It does not have a gate that says: this number was computed, labeled, signed, and can be checked by a stranger. That gate is the gap. Pramana is only that gate.

The gate

What Pramana does

Keep the model. Keep the writer. Keep the reviewers. Pramana sits between “the words are drafted” and “the pack is signed and sent”, and it watches every copy in both languages.

Where the Pramana gate sits Sources, then model, then AI draft, then the Pramana gate with four steps: compute, label, lock, receipt. Then review and signing, then the readers. If a number is mismatched or unlabeled, nothing goes forward. Sources Model AI draft Pramana gate 1 Compute 2 Label 3 Lock 4 Receipt Review and signer Canada's DrugAgency INESSS pCPA andprovinces Mismatched or unlabeled? Nothing moves forward.

Recalculate

Each figure is computed again, in code, from the company's own sources. The AI may suggest a formula. It never writes the value.

Label estimates

If a number is an assumption, it is marked as one in every document it appears in. It cannot pass as a measured fact.

Match every copy, or block

The application, the French INESSS version, pCPA and provincial materials must all match the locked figure, or nothing is released.

Hand over a receipt

What was computed, from which sources, with which formula, signed by whom, and where AI was used. Reviewers open it in a browser, with no VedAGI account.

One number

The journey of one number

Follow a single figure, the year-one budget impact for public drug plans, from the company's files to a reviewer's screen at Canada's Drug Agency.

  1. Start from the source

    Pramana reads the company's own files: trial data, prices, patient counts and the model. Nothing new is invented.

  2. AI may suggest, code decides

    The AI can propose how the number should be worked out. Pramana runs that formula itself, in code, on the real inputs.

  3. Find every copy and compare

    The computed value is checked everywhere it appears, in English and French. Any mismatch is flagged, not quietly accepted.

  4. Figure or estimate

    Computed from measured sources, it becomes a figure. Built on an assumption, it stays a labeled estimate that everyone can see.

  5. A named person signs

    The signer approves computed figures, not paragraphs. Pramana records who signed, when, and what role AI played.

  6. The receipt travels with the pack

    Value, formula, sources, signer and AI use, in one page any reviewer can open. It matches what the agency's AI statement asks companies to declare.

Receipt PR-0042
Figure
Year-1 budget impact, public drug plans
Value
$2.1M (CAD)
Formula
treated_y1 × net_cost − displaced
Sources
BIA_model.xlsx, Results!C14; price_list_2026.csv
Found in
Agency application, INESSS (FR), pCPA, summary: all match
AI use
Formula suggested by AI; value computed in code; human reviewed
Signed by
Named signer, 27 Sep 2026

Locked. Anyone can recheck this number.

Example receipt. Values are illustrative.

Value

What it is worth

Pramana does not make a product look better. It saves the hours spent chasing numbers and protects the launch from avoidable slips. Anything we estimated is marked as an estimate, the same rule Pramana applies to its own numbers.

Time spent tracing numbers, per pack

Today: checked by hand, about 3 review rounds
about 80 hours
With Pramana: people review only flagged items
about 7 hours
about 73 hours savedper pack, about C$11K to C$18K of team timeEstimate

How we got this: About 40 key numbers, each repeated in about 4 places (agency application, French INESSS version, pCPA materials, summary), makes 160 spots. At about 10 minutes each by hand, that is about 27 hours per review round, times 3 rounds. Team time valued at C$150 to C$250 an hour.

What a detour costs on Canada's path

906 days

average from Health Canada approval to a first public listing 1

  • After a “do not reimburse” recommendation+652 days on average 1
  • After a failed first price negotiation+490 days on average 1

Most detours come from real disagreements about value, which Pramana does not fix. It removes the avoidable ones: numbers nobody can trace, copies that disagree, guesses read as facts. For scale, average global drug sales run about US$500K a day 7, so one avoidable month is roughly US$15M pushed back (estimate).

A locked pack is cheaper than a corrected one
QuestionLocked before it leavesCorrected after someone else finds it
When the error is foundInside the company, before sign-offAfter the agency has already rerun your math
Who finds itPramana flags it automaticallyAgency reviewers, INESSS, or pCPA negotiators
What it costsA few hours to fix a flagged numberClarification rounds, a weaker negotiating position, or a resubmission
What you can say“Here is the receipt for every number.”“We will look into it and get back to you.”

We will measure, not guess. The first engagement locks one live results table and every copy of it, and records the real hours before and after. Those measured numbers replace every estimate here.

Who it helps

Who it helps

Each person who touches the number gets something different.

  • The person who signs

    They approve computed figures, not paragraphs. If a number cannot be locked, it does not go out.

  • The HEOR and market access team

    They keep the model they trust and stop chasing numbers across documents and languages.

  • The company that owns the product

    On a 906-day path, a number that has to be explained or resubmitted costs months and weakens its position at the pCPA table.

  • Canada's Drug Agency, INESSS, pCPA and the provinces

    They can check the receipt without buying anything. Trust moves from “we like this company” to “we can recompute this.”

  • Legal, regulatory and compliance

    A ready record of sources, formula, value, signer and AI use, in line with what the agency's AI statement asks for.

Limits

What Pramana is not

Pramana does not:

  • make a drug look more cost-effective
  • replace the review by Canada's Drug Agency or INESSS
  • replace pCPA or a province's decision
  • write the submission
  • remove the human from the process
  • give legal or regulatory advice

If the model is wrong, the lock will faithfully lock the wrong math. The benefit is integrity of release, not a better economic answer.

Start

Start with one table

Lock the budget impact results in one live Canadian submission, and every copy of it, including the French version. You keep your model and your review process. We measure the hours saved, and those measured numbers replace every estimate on this page.

Sources

  1. PMPRB, NPDUIS: Factors delaying the public listing of drugs in Canada (2025), 160 drugs first listed 2018 to 2023. Link
  2. Health technology assessment reports for non-oncology medications in Canada, 2018 to 2022 (PMC11499573). Link
  3. Canada's Drug Agency, Pharmaceutical Reviews Update 23 and Procedures for Reimbursement Reviews. Link
  4. Canada's Drug Agency, Position Statement on the Use of AI in the Generation and Reporting of Evidence (April 2025). Link
  5. PAAB, Advisory on Provincial Formulary Coverage Statements. Link
  6. pCPA, Standard negotiation process; C.D. Howe Institute, Faster deals or faster access? (2025). Link
  7. Smith, Getz and DiMasi, New estimates on the cost of a delay day in drug development, Therapeutic Innovation & Regulatory Science (2024). Global average, US dollars.

Time and money figures marked as estimates are illustrative and will be replaced by measured results from the first engagements. Nothing on this page is legal or regulatory advice. Looking for the other market? Read the United States edition.

Get in Touch

If you are about to send a table you cannot recompute, talk to us.

VedAGI. Intelligence for Humanity.