Regions
MAIN/REGIONS
regions/
Regions
  1. Americas
  2. Asia & Oceania
  3. Europe
  4. Middle East & Africa
  1. Solutions
  2. Products
  3. Insights
  4. About
  5. Careers
  6. Contact Us
MAIN/search
MAIN/Solutions
Solutions/
SOLUTIONS
  • Research & Development
  • Real World Evidence
  • Commercialization
  • Safety & Regulatory Compliance
  • Technologies
LIFE SCIENCE SEGMENTS
HEALTHCARE SEGMENTS
THERAPEUTIC AREAS

Impacting People's Lives

"We strive to help improve outcomes and create a healthier, more sustainable world for people everywhere.

LEARN MORE
Harness the power to transform clinical development

Reimagine clinical development by intelligently connecting data, technology, and analytics to optimize your trials. The result? Faster decision making and reduced risk so you can deliver life-changing therapies faster.

Research & Development Overview
Research & Development Quick Links
Real World Evidence. Real Confidence. Real Results.

Generate and disseminate evidence that answers crucial clinical, regulatory and commercial questions, enabling you to drive smarter decisions and meet your stakeholder needs with confidence.

REAL WORLD EVIDENCE OVERVIEW
Real World Evidence Quick Links
See markets more clearly. Opportunities more often.

Elevate commercial models with precision and speed using AI-driven analytics and technology that illuminate hidden insights in data.

COMMERCIALIZATION OVERVIEW
Commercialization Quick Links
Service driven. Tech-enabled. Integrated compliance.

Orchestrate your success across the complete compliance lifecycle with best-in-class services and solutions for safety, regulatory, quality and medical information.

COMPLIANCE OVERVIEW
Safety & Regulatory Compliance Quick Links
Intelligence that transforms life sciences end-to-end.

When your destination is a healthier world, making intelligent connections between data, technology, and services is your roadmap.

TECHNOLOGIES OVERVIEW
Technology Quick Links
MAIN/Products
Products/
CLINICAL PRODUCTS
COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS
COMPLIANCE, SAFETY, REG PRODUCTS
REAL WORLD PRODUCTS

CASE STUDY

"Data in a Day

LEARN MORE
MAIN/Insights
Insights/
BLOGS, WHITE PAPERS & CASE STUDIES

Explore our library of insights, thought leadership, and the latest topics & trends in healthcare.

DISCOVER INSIGHTS
THE IQVIA INSTITUTE

An in-depth exploration of the global healthcare ecosystem with timely research, insightful analysis, and scientific expertise.

SEE LATEST REPORTS

INSTITUTE REPORT

"Global Trends in R&D 2024

READ MORE

EMEA Insights

"IQVIA thought leadership with a focus on EMEA.

Learn more

WHITE PAPER

"DCTs Deliver Big ROI

LEARN MORE

WHITE PAPER

"Capturing value at scale: The $4 billion RWE imperative

LEARN MORE
MAIN/About
About/
FEATURED INNOVATIONS
  • IQVIA Connected Intelligence™
  • IQVIA Healthcare-grade AI™
  • Human Data Science Cloud
  • IQVIA Innovation Hub
  • Decentralized Trials
  • Patient Experience Solutions with Apple devices
WHO WE ARE
NEWS & RESOURCES

INVESTOR RELATIONS

"Visit our investor relations site for more information.

LEARN MORE
Unlock your potential to drive healthcare forward

By making intelligent connections between your needs, our capabilities, and the healthcare ecosystem, we can help you be more agile, accelerate results, and improve patient outcomes.

LEARN MORE
IQVIA AI is Healthcare-grade AI

Building on a rich history of developing AI for healthcare, IQVIA AI connects the right data, technology, and expertise to address the unique needs of healthcare. It's what we call Healthcare-grade AI.

LEARN MORE

Your healthcare data deserves more than just a cloud.

The IQVIA Human Data Science Cloud is our unique capability designed to enable healthcare-grade analytics, tools, and data management solutions to deliver fit-for-purpose global data at scale.

LEARN MORE
Innovations make an impact when bold ideas meet powerful partnerships

The IQVIA Innovation Hub connects start-ups with the extensive IQVIA network of assets, resources, clients, and partners. Together, we can help lead the future of healthcare with the extensive IQVIA network of assets, resources, clients, and partners.

LEARN MORE
Proven, faster DCT solutions

IQVIA Decentralized Trials deliver purpose-built clinical services and technologies that engage the right patients wherever they are. Our hybrid and fully virtual solutions have been used more than any others.

LEARN MORE
IQVIA Patient Experience Solutions with Apple devices

Empowering patients to personalize their healthcare and connecting them to caregivers has the potential to change the care delivery paradigm.

LEARN MORE
MAIN/Careers
Careers/
WORKING AT IQVIA

Our mission is to accelerate innovation for a healthier world. Together, we can solve customer challenges and improve patient lives.

LEARN MORE
LIFE AT IQVIA

Careers, culture and everything in between. Find out what’s going on right here, right now.

LEARN MORE

WE’RE HIRING

"Improving human health requires brave thinkers who are willing to explore new ideas and build on successes. Unleash your potential with us.

SEARCH JOBS
MAIN/Contact Us
Contact Us/
Institute Report
Medicine Use and Spending in the U.S.
A Review of 2017 and Outlook to 2022
Apr 19, 2018
To download files you must give consent to process your personal data by clicking the "Accept" button below.

About the Report

Spending on medicines remains a topic of intense interest among policy makers, patients, payers and drug manufacturers. This report focuses its attention on “net spending” on medicines in the United States in 2017 with an outlook to 2022,  explores out-of-pocket patient costs at pharmacies and examines the overall volume of medicines being used, with a special focus of opioids and newly launched, innovative medicines.  

Report Summary

The level and growth of spending, the price of new and old drugs, and the allocation of costs among patients, employers, health plans, intermediaries and state and federal government agencies all command great attention. The goal of this report is to provide objective measures of medicine use and their cost to our healthcare system.

Spending on medicines grew by 0.6% in 2017 after off-invoice discounts and rebates. This spending includes all types of medicines, including institutional use for inpatients and outpatients. Focusing only on retail and mail-order pharmacy distribution, net spending declined by 2.1%.

When adjusted for manufacturer discounts and rebates, as well as economic and population growth, medicine spending declined, on a per capita basis, by 2.2% in 2017 and has increased by an average of 1.0% per year since 2008. The balance of medicine spending has shifted strongly to specialty medicines from traditional treatments.

Medicine use by patients has continued to rise. In 2017, there was a significant increase in chronic, 90-day prescriptions which can be linked to efforts to improve adherence. Of note, the greatest decline in treatment volumes in 2017 was for prescription opioids; the highest doses of prescription opioids declined by over 33% during the past two years.

Pharmacy prices for brand prescriptions increased by 58% over the past five years, while final out-of-pocket costs for all prescriptions declined by 17%. These divergent trends reflect the complex dynamics determining how much patients pay for their medicines and the influence those costs have on whether they fill their prescriptions.

New drug launches more than doubled in 2017 from 2016. Forty-two new active substances (NAS) were launched, with 21 for rare diseases and 14 in cancer. Significant shifts in the regulatory process are becoming apparent, as 19 drugs received a breakthrough designation and 18 included patient-reported outcomes as part of their approved label from FDA.

The outlook to 2022 is for 2–5% net spending growth, with 1–4% growth in retail and mail-order prescription drugs. This growth, driven primarily by the large number of new medicines, many of which will be specialty and orphan drugs, will be offset by the impact of losses of brand exclusivity.

Key Findings

Learn More

Webinar
On-Demand Webinar Available Now

Join author and IQVIA Institute Research Director, Michael Kleinrock, as he provides objective context and perspective around the complex factors that determine the level of spending on medicines in the U.S. and their impact on policy makers, patients, payers and drug manufacturers.

Infographic
Report Infographic

Explore trends and highlights from each of the five chapters of the report.

Contact Us