2014 saw highest increase in US drug spend over past decade

In 2014, the pharmacy landscape underwent a seismic change, and the budgetary impact to healthcare payers was significant. US prescription drug spend increased 13.1% in 2014 – the largest annual increase since 2003 – and this was largely driven by an unprecedented 30.9% increase in spending on specialty medications, according to US pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts latest report.

Utilization of traditional medications stayed flat (-0.1%), while the use of specialty drugs increased 5.8%. The largest factors contributing to the increased spending, however, were the price increases for these medication categories – 6.5% for traditional and 25.2% for specialty. While specialty medications represent only 1% of all US prescriptions, these drugs represented 31.8% of all 2014 drug spend – an increase from 27.7% in 2013.

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