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Dayton Business Journal...
Report:
American medicine spending climbs to $320B
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Americans continue to spend big dollars on medicine. Last year, they
shelled out $320 billion on medicines, a jump of 4 percent from $307
billion in 2010, according to a report issued by the IMS Institute for
Healthcare Informatics.
The report -- “The Use of Medicines in the United States: Review of
2011” -- also found patients with insurance spent $49 billion
out-of-pocket for prescription drugs, a decline of $1.8 billion from
2010. And nearly 75 percent of all prescriptions had a copay of $10 or
less, but prescriptions for branded drugs covered by commercial
insurance plans averaged $40 for copays.
“2011 was a remarkable year for the volume of drug breakthroughs that
became available to millions of Americans,” said Michael Kleinrock,
director, Research Development, IMS Institute for Healthcare
Informatics. “At the same time, some troubling trends that began in
2009 persisted with many patients appearing to ration their medical
care. The implications of fewer doctor visits and lower drug
utilization on patients’ health have yet to play out and require
further study.”
The Dayton region and Southwest Ohio has seen a boom in biotech and
pharmaceutical jobs as the drug industry has grown its presence in the
region. Multiple pharmaceutical companies are based in the Dayton
region, including Eurand Corp. in Vandalia, Encore Pharmaceuticals in
West Chester, AtriCure Inc. in West Chester and Waltham, Ma.-based
Alkermes Inc. that has a facility in Wilmington with 400 workers, up
from 300 in the past year. And Abbott Laboratories is building a $270
million plant that will bring 240 jobs to Tipp City.
Read this and other articles at the Dayton Business Journal
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