IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science

Reports and Publications

The IQVIA Institute annually conducts research on trends in four key areas of healthcare: The Global Use of Medicines, Global Trends in R&D, The Use of Medicines in the U.S., and Global Oncology Trends. This research is then offered at no cost to the public in the form of reports that offer a series of visual exhibits, research findings, and descriptive text.

In addition, the Institute offers other content – strategic reports, other publications, and events to further explore report findings – all of which is accessible to the public at no cost and often involving contributions from external, multi-stakeholder speakers and contributors.

The Institute is interested in perspectives on our research and findings from a variety of viewpoints and invites those perspectives in many forums.

Read more about each annual trend report and supporting content below.

The Global Use of Medicines 2024

This annual trend reports explores key drivers behind annual spending and usage of medicines globally, and covers innovation, value, cost, and role of medicines expected in the years ahead in the context of overall healthcare spending.

Key findings for 2024:

  • Growth outlook is raised by 2 percentage points despite lower expectations for COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics
  • This increase in growth outlook is driven by more patients getting treated with better medicines, especially in immunology, endocrinology, and oncology
  • Medicine use in Latin America and Asia will grow faster than other regions over the next five years
  • Global use of medicines grew by 14% over the past five years and a further 12% increase is expected through 2028, bringing annual use to 3.8 trillion defined daily doses
  • Global spending on medicine using list prices grew by 35% over the past five years and is forecast to increase by 38% through 2028
  • The updated outlook for the U.S. market, using estimated net prices, is being raised by 3 percentage points to 2-5% CAGR through 2028, reflecting higher recent growth and expected further increased patient use of higher value therapies

Global Trends in R&D 2024

This annual report assesses the trends in new drug approvals and launches, overall pipeline activity, the number of initiated clinical trials, the status of R&D funding, and more.

Key findings for 2024:

  • Clinical development productivity rose in 2023, primarily due to an improvement in the composite success rate, a function of phases successfully completed in the year, which rose to 10.8%. This was the highest level since 2018.
  • Industry and regulator adoption of innovative and technology-driven enablers contributed to productivity gains. These enablers included the use of predictive biomarkers, novel trial design, and digital and decentralized trial methodologies.
  • A total of 69 novel active substances (NASs) were launched globally in 2023 – 6 more than the prior year – including 24 first-in-class launches in the U.S.
  • Clinical development programs among larger biopharma companies are moving toward newer modalities, including cell and gene therapy, antibody drug conjugates, and radioligand therapies. This is coupled with an increased focus on neurology, infectious diseases, metabolic diseases (including obesity), and rare diseases.
  • R&D funding levels and deal activity recovered in 2023 following a steep decline in 2022 from peak levels in 2020-21.

The Use of Medicines in the U.S. 2024

This annual report addresses health system utilization and its recovery from the pandemic, how medicine usage patterns have shifted in the U.S., the complex nature of drug pricing, and the impact of out-of-pocket costs on patients.

Key findings for 2024:

  • Overall spending in the U.S. market for medicines grew 2.5% in 2023, reaching $435Bn at net price level, reflecting a sharp decline in COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics
  • Spending growth was 9.9%, when COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics are excluded, driven by innovation in areas such as oncology, immunology, diabetes, and obesity
  • Patient out-of-pocket costs increased due to the increasing use of GIP/GLP-1 agonists which are approved and widely reimbursed for diabetes but are less commonly covered for obesity
  • The number of patient visits, diagnostics, and elective procedures fell 4-6% in 2023, while new prescriptions rose 4%

Global Oncology Trends 2024

This annual report profiles the current state of research and development in oncology, including key mechanisms, targets and cancer types being investigated, as well as metrics of clinical development productivity.

Key findings for 2024:

  • Cancer incidence is expected to rise significantly through 2050, particularly in lower-income countries, to 32 million new cases annually – a potential increase of more than 12 million new annual cases
  • Global spending on cancer medicine increased to $223 billion in 2023, $25 billion more than 2022, and is projected to reach $409 billion by 2028
  • In 2023, 25 oncology novel active substances (NASs) were launched globally, making a total of 193 since 2014 – however, large geographic variations exist in availability of these medicines
  • More than 2,000 new oncology clinical trials started in 2023 with novel modalities and significant promise for cancer treatment, including cell and gene therapies, antibody-drug conjugates, multispecific antibodies, and radioligand therapies
  • Cancer treatments have increased 9% annually since 2019 but the pace of bringing novel therapies to patients is uneven due to differences in biomarker testing rates, adoption of novel therapies and lack of infrastructure capacity to deliver some of the most advanced therapies
Strategic Reports
The IQVIA Institute regularly publishes strategic reports based on timely topics in healthcare. Like our annual trend reports, strategic reports are also produced from evidenced-based research.
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