Pricing furor aside, drug spending growth slowed last year—but still hit $323B
Despite news about drug pricing and expenses last year, net spending growth actually fell in the US. After discounts, pharma spending increased 4.8% in 2016, down from 8.9% growth in 2015.
These numbers come from the QuintilesIMS Institute, which recently released its annual drug spending report. Net US drug expenses reached $323B last year, while invoice-level spending was $450B. Together, the figures represent an industrywide rebate and discounting level of 28%. Spending growth also slowed on an invoice basis in 2016, to 5.8%, from about 12.5% in 2015. The numbers represent overall growth, and US drug spending continued to expand in 2016.
Other trends in the report included a continued shift to specialty medicine spending, a deceleration of invoice price hikes, and a downturn in new drug sales. QuintilesIMS experts aren’t expecting huge price increases in the coming years due to heightened market competition and drug pricing scrutiny.
