The QuintilesIMS Institute recently conducted a study on drug spending composition and evolution in five countries — France, Germany, Japan, U.K. and the United States.
Here are seven findings, as reported in the study.
1. In all five countries, total drug spending increased over the past two decades. The study attributes much of this increase to greater utilization, partly driven by aging populations and an increase in the number of people with chronic diseases. Researchers also cite "introduction of new medicines as treatment options for many diseases" as a contributing factor.
2. The study attributes between 45 percent and 65 percent of total drug spending in each country in the last five years to protected branded drugs. Between 7 percent and 35 percent is attributed to brands that are not protected. The study states this reflects "the different policies affecting usage and reimbursement of no longer protected brands and generics in each country."
3. In all five countries, nominal drug spending measured at invoice price level "has risen substantially" over the past two decades, "but less so when normalized for economic and population growth and especially in the most recent decade."
4. However, the study notes drug spending has not increased as quickly as a percentage of health expenditure, and has even decreased in some countries from what it was in the late 1990s.
5. U.S. drug spending composition has moved from large population primary care classes — hypertension, antibacterials, antiulcerants — to large expenditure small population specialty drug classes, like oncology, autoimmune and others, according to the study. "The shift is even more dramatic when looking only at protected brands and new brands, where many of the leading classes from 1995 have a dramatically smaller share of spending in 2015," the study adds.
6. The study attributed the shift, in large part, to the classes having a low influx of new products, and the U.S. market rapidly and quickly shifting volume from no longer protected brands to generics.
7. In the U.S., the number of existing protected branded and new protected products was less than 15 percent in 2015, down from 85 percent in 2001. The study states this is due to further patent expiries.
Read the full study here.
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