IMS Studies US Retail Drug Payments

Managed care is fast becoming the dominant method of payment for retail prescriptions in the USA, according to IMS America, commenting on the findings of its Retail Method-of-Payment Report for the first three quarters of 1994.

The company forecasts that for the whole of last year, third-party managed care prescriptions will account for around 45% or $25 billion of the estimated $57 billion retail prescriptions for the year, and will for the first time exceed cash-paid sales, which are forecast to account for 42% of the year's total. Medicaid is expected to account for the remaining 13% of the market, or $7.5 billion, down from its 15% share in 1993. Third-party sales accounted for approximately 38% of the total retail prescription market in 1993, and cash sales represented 47%.

Wyeth-Ayerst was the leading company in both the third-party and cash payments categories over the first nine months of last year, while Marion merrell Dow's Rugby subsidiary led the Medicaid category, according to IMS. The study notes that only one independent generic company, Mylan, is present in the top 10 list for all three categories, standing in second place for both cash payments and Medicaid prescriptions, and third in the third-party category. Merck & Co is ranked in second place for third-party payments, sixth for cash sales and sixth for Medicaid-paid prescriptions.