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Global Prescription Drug Sales Will Reach Nearly $1 Trillion in the Next 5 Years

Global prescription drug sales will grow 4.8 percent a year until reaching $987 billion by 2020, according to a new report from EvaluatePharma.

“For the industry to sustain this impressive growth they will have to make compromises around global pricing and market access,” said Lisa Urquhart, editor of EP Vantage, which issued the report, the Wall Street Journal  reported.

Other findings from the report upend the concept that research and development costs are driving high prescription drug prices. EvaluatePharma predicts AbbVie’s rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira, the biggest seller last year, will keep its top stop in the United State in 2020, raking in an estimated $8 billion in sales Discover More. However, the price of one injection of Humira has soared 82 percent since 2007 to $1,501 last year, according to Bloomberg data. Given that Humira has been on the market since 2002, this giant price increase can’t be accredited to costly R&D.

For entire article: .pdf | AHIP Coverage