Americans spent a record $374 billion on prescription drugs last year — mostly thanks to one drug

A new report from the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, an industry research firm, has revealed that U.S. spending on prescription drugs jumped by 13 percent last year.
In 2014, Americans spent $374 billion on prescription drugs. That figure is due, in part, to a new drug for hepatitis C, which costs more than $80,000 per patient for 12 weeks of treatment. The innovative Hepatitis C treatment, Sovaldi, was the top-selling drug in America last year. The hepatitis C drugs, manufactured by Gilead Sciences, accounted for more than $11 billion of U.S. prescription drug spending.
The Los Angeles Times explains that before Sovaldi became available, patients with hepatitis C weren't receiving treatment for the virus. Experts predict that future years won't see jumps in prescription use as drastic as the one in 2014, since last year marked Sovaldi's first full year on the market. The IMS Health researchers also believe that when Gilead's competitors release hepatitis C treatments, the cost of Sovaldi will drop to $50,000 or less.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Other popular prescriptions in the U.S. included the antipsychotic Abilify and the rheumatoid arthritis prescription Humira. Spending on multiple sclerosis treatments also rose 24.4 percent last year, accounting for $13.9 billion in prescription drug spending.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.
-
Trump’s budget bill will increase the deficit. Does it matter?
Today's Big Question Analysts worry a 'tipping point' is coming
-
Film reviews: The Phoenician Scheme, Bring Her Back, and Jane Austen Wrecked My Life
Feature A despised mogul seeks a fresh triumph, orphaned siblings land with a nightmare foster mother, and a Jane fan finds herself in a love triangle
-
Music reviews: Tune-Yards and PinkPantheress
Feature "Better Dreaming" and "Fancy That"
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside home
speed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confession
speed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulder
speed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
-
Driver rams van into crowd at Liverpool FC parade
speed read 27 people were hospitalized following the attack
-
2 Israel Embassy staff shot dead at DC Jewish museum
speed read The suspected gunman chanted 'free, free Palestine'
-
Bombing of fertility clinic blamed on 'antinatalist'
speed read A car bombing injured four people and damaged a fertility clinic and nearby buildings in Palm Springs, California
-
Suspect charged after 11 die in Vancouver car attack
Speed Read Kai-Ji Adam Lo drove an SUV into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Day festival
-
Kenya arrests alleged ant smugglers
speed read Two young Belgians have been charged for attempting to smuggle ants out of the country to exotic pet buyers