Nearly 600,000 Americans have annual medication costs above $50,000- The number of U.S. patients taking at least $100,000 worth of prescription drugs tripled in 2014- Majority of these patients take at least 10 medications, from at least 4 different prescribers- Express Scripts solutions address critical opportunities to improve care and reduce costs for patients with high medication costs
ORLANDO, Fla., May 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — As pharmaceutical companies introduce more high-cost medications for larger populations, employers, health plans and others are increasingly challenged to control the significant increase in spending that happens as a result, according to new research released this week by Express Scripts ESRX, +0.27% during its annual Outcomes Symposium.Market Watch,  May 13, 2015
The new report, Super Spending: U.S. Trends in High-Cost Medication Use, examines prescription drug use among patients with exceedingly high annual medication costs under the pharmacy benefit. The number of U.S. patients estimated to have annual medication costs greater than $50,000 jumped 63 percent between 2013 and 2014, from 352,000 to 576,000 Americans. The population of patients estimated to be taking at least $100,000 worth of medication nearly tripled in the same time period, from 47,000 to 139,000 Americans.