US drug spending up in 2011

Spending on medicines in the US increased by 3.7% to $320 billion last year after a raft of new drugs entered the lucrative market, a new report has found.

The report, The Use of Medicines in the United States: Review of 2011, showed that spending on branded medicines increased by 2.2% to $14.9bn and on generics to reach $5.6bn.

Michael Kleinrock, Director, Research Development, IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, said that “2011 was a remarkable year” for the number of drugs which entered the market.

Research found there were 34 New Molecular Entities launched in the US last year – the most in a decade. Orphan drugs also saw more launches in 2011 than in the last ten years.

They were joined by several new types of therapies to treat cancer, multiple sclerosis, hepatitis C and cardiovascular conditions.

Nearly a third of total healthcare spending was spent on medicines treating cancer, asthma and COPD, dyslipidaemia and diabetes, and mental health medication for psychoses and bipolar disorders.

Each of these therapy areas increased faster than the overall market, and showed a range of dynamics related to new treatment options and growing diagnosis of related diseases.

The increase in drug spending in the US is in contrast to that of NHS, where spending dropped to £8.81 billion in 2011 from £8.83 billion in 2010.