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# Drug Spending Up 8.5% Last Year: IMS
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/drug-spending-up-8-5-last-year-ims/
- Published: 2016-04-15T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T20:55:09.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5135386

> Total prescription drug spending in the U.S. reached $310 billion in 2015, up 8.5% from the previous year, according to a [new report](http://www.imshealth.com/en/about-us/news/ims-health-study-us-drug-spending-growth-reaches-8.5-percent-in-2015?ref=fdaweb.com) by IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics. “The savings from branded medicines facing generic competition were relatively low in 2015, and the impact of price increases on brands was limited due to higher rebates and price concessions from manufacturers,” the report says. “Specialty drug spending reached $121 billion on a net price basis, up more than 15 percent from 2014.  
>  
> The report notes that the outlook for drug spending through 2020 is for mid-single digit growth, “driven by clusters of innovative treatments and offset by the rising impact of brands facing generic or biosimilar competition.” Total prescriptions dispensed in 2015 reached 4.4 billion, up 1% over last year. “Demand was higher in some therapy areas such as antidepressants and anti-diabetes, each of which increased about 10% in 2015,” it says. “Among those therapy areas that declined, narcotic drugs saw a 16.6% drop in the number of prescriptions dispensed.”