The US market for medicines grew by 5% in 2022, reaching a total value of $429Bn on a net price basis.
This was driven by a range of factors, including an increase in health services utilisation, which is now back to pre-pandemic levels, and the entry of new medicines into the market.
Balancing these drivers of growth was a lack of net price increases for branded drugs and patient out-of-pocket costs per retail prescription remaining under $10. This is according to a new report from the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science.
Biosimilars now account for 25% of total volume of the relevant molecules, although there is wide variation in uptake due to differences in strategies adopted by originator and biosimilar manufacturers, payer and PBM decisions, as well as clinician and patient preferences.
The impact from losses of exclusivity for biologics and the introduction of biosimilars has increased dramatically in the past three years, with brand sales of those products dropping by $33Bn over the past five years compared to $4Bn over the prior five years and reflecting a growing role for biosimilars.
Murray Aitken, Executive Director of the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science, said: “Life sciences innovation continues at a fast rate, bringing new drugs to patients and generating new demand, while average patient out-of-pocket costs remain low and the entry of biosimilars and generics as well as payer pressures cause growth in spending to remain at a lower level. Over the next five years we can expect significant growth from oncology, obesity and neuroscience medicines.”
Some notable areas of medicine use in 2022:
- Use of antibacterials grew 6.8%
- Use of ADHD medicines grew 11%
- Mental health prescriptions have increased by 8% since 2019
- Newer diabetes therapies have seen significant growth
