Prescription Drug Sales Rise 8.3 Percent

By THERESA AGOVINO

NEW YORK – U.S. prescription drug sales rose 8.3 percent to $274.9 billion last year, fueled by the Medicare drug benefit, increased use of generic medicines and new treatments for diseases such as cancer and diabetes, according to a new report.

This year, the pace of sales growth is expected to slow but remain in a compounded annual rate of between 6 percent and 9 percent through 2010 as the Medicare drug benefit is annualized and more generic products enter the market, according to the report released late Thursday by IMS Health.

IMS Health provides data to the pharmaceutical and health care industries.

U.S. drug sales rose 5.8 percent to $253.7 billion in 2005.

But in 2006 the Medicare drug benefit offered prescription coverage to some individuals who were previously uninsured or underinsured. Prescriptions dispensed through the Medicare drug benefit accounted for 17 percent of retail prescriptions by the end of the year, the report said.

Sales of unbranded generics rose 22 percent to $27.4 billion, driven by prescriptions for medicines such as the copycat versions of cholesterol agent Zocor and antidepressant Zoloft.

IMS also noted some new drugs performed well last year, such as cancer agent Sutent from Pfizer Inc. and diabetes treatments such as Eli Lilly and Co.’s Byetta and Merck & Co.’s Januvia.