Express Scripts forecasts unsustainable increases in specialty drug spend in USA

Expensive treatments for broad patient populations are driving unprecedented growth in US spending on specialty drugs to treat complex conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and cancer, according to a new report issued today by Express Scripts.

As it has for the past two decades, the Express Scripts Drug Trend Report quantifies annual changes in utilization, unit costs and overall prescription drug spending, based on the pharmacy claims data from Express Scripts, the nation's largest pharmacy benefit manager. It was released this week at the company's Outcomes Symposium in Orlando.

While growth in specialty drug spend in 2013 - 14.1% – was at its lowest point in the past six years, it is poised to go up significantly. Express Scripts forecasts that the country's specialty-drug spend will increase an additional 6%3 between 2014 and 2016.