Growth of prescription drug sales slowed last year
SAN FRANCISCO - Drug sales in the United States grew at their slowest pace since 1961 as cheaper copies of top-selling medicines flooded the market and US regulators approved fewer new products, a report said.
Sales of medicine rose 3.8 percent to $286.5 billion in 2007, compared with an 8 percent increase in 2006 when demand spiked as the Medicare program for the first time offered prescription drugs, health research firm IMS Health Inc. said yesterday.
Treatments that had $17 billion in sales in 2006 lost patent protection last year, allowing cheaper copies to enter the market, IMS said. Safety concerns also hurt some drugs while the main winners were high-priced biotechnology treatments for cancer, schizophrenia, and immune disorders that are primarily prescribed by specialists.
While two-thirds of all drugs sold in the United States are now generics, brand-name drugs account for 80 percent of sales, said Diana Conmy, an IMS executive.
