Generics Spending Declined in 2017, IQVIA Reports

Generics spending dropped $5.5 billion in the United States in 2017 due largely to competition and price decreases, according to the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science report, Medicine Use and Spending in the U.S. A Review of 2017 and an Outlook to 2022.

Generic prices fell an average of 6.3 percent after increasing from 2013 to 2015, while generic dispensing accounted for 90 percent of prescriptions compared to 72 percent in 2008.

Increases in generic approvals by the FDA, which hit an all-time high last year, led to price reductions of $5 billion.