Prescription drug sales rise 8.3 percent

AP via Yahoo! News ^ | 3/9/07 | THERESA AGOVINO

[libertarianPA]

NEW YORK - U.S. prescription drug sales rose 8.3 percent to $274.9 billion last year, fueled by the Medicare drug benefit, increased use of generic medicines and new treatments for diseases such as cancer and diabetes, according to a new report.

This year, the pace of sales growth is expected to slow but remain in a compounded annual rate of between 6 percent and 9 percent through 2010 as the Medicare drug benefit is annualized and more generic products enter the market, according to the report released late Thursday by IMS Health.

IMS Health provides data to the pharmaceutical and health care industries.

U.S. drug sales rose 5.8 percent to $253.7 billion in 2005.

But in 2006 the Medicare drug benefit offered prescription coverage to some individuals who were previously uninsured or underinsured. Prescriptions dispensed through the Medicare drug benefit accounted for 17 percent of retail prescriptions by the end of the year, the report said.

Sales of unbranded generics rose 22 percent to $27.4 billion, driven by prescriptions for medicines such as the copycat versions of cholesterol agent Zocor and antidepressant Zoloft.

IMS also noted some new drugs performed well last year, such as cancer agent Sutent from Pfizer Inc. and diabetes treatments such as Eli Lilly and Co.'s Byetta and Merck & Co.'s Januvia.

[libertarianPA]

fueled by the Medicare drug benefit, increased use of generic medicines and new treatments for diseases such as cancer and diabetes,

The real question is, did the supply increase or remain the same? If it remained the same, how much more expensive are these drugs in terms of real dollars? The easier access becomes for the general public, of course there will be greater consumption. That doesn't mean the supply increases.

[newgeezer]

"Ask your doctor if [latestAndGreatestBrandNameDrug] is right for you!"

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

The supply would have increased for some things and decreased for others depending on the what the market demanded.

I imagine that the demand for Vioxx for example has dropped.

But they are also making meds for things that you used to just have to live with. I used to just have to live with itchy skin in the winter. Now I can buy a prescription cream that keeps my skin scale and crack free.

Bless the researcher who discovered that to the fourth and fifth generation.

[Tulane]

Duh...when subscription drugs are subsidized by the government, prices rise...who wouldda thunk it? That would never happen with other subsidized products, like say, college tuition, would it?

[L98Fiero]

"U.S. prescription drug sales rose 8.3 percent to $274.9 billion last year, fueled by the Medicare drug benefit, increased use of generic medicines and new treatments for diseases such as cancer and diabetes, according to a new report."

Yeah, I'm sure the relatively new 24/7 advertising of prescription remedies to a host of made-up diseases, conditions and syndromes had no effect.