Vizient, Inc. released its July 2019 Drug Price Forecast projecting health systems, including inpatient and non-acute environments. “This Drug Price Forecast predicts continued growth of pharmaceutical costs that far exceeds both inflation and wage growth, making healthcare less affordable,” said Dan Kistner, Group Senior Vice President, Pharmacy Solutions, Vizient. Here's what the GPO’s research indicates:
4.57
percent projected increase would be made for pharmaceutical purchases from Jan. 1, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2020. And since hospitals are increasingly offering services in the non-acute setting -- outpatient infusions, home infusion, and specialty pharmacy services – spend profiles now include new and specialized FDA-approved medications, which are the costliest.
22
biosimilars were approved by FDA as of July 2019, with seven available in the market. Additionally, the most relevant patents protecting rituximab, bevacizumab and trastuzumab will expire during the third quarter of 2019.
$10 billion
is spent across the U.S. healthcare system for biosimilars, with specialty drug price inflations predicted to increase by 4.23 percent, resulting in the need for providers to increase their drug budgets in the coming year.
$359 million
is the total cost of increased labor (based on the responses from approximately 365 hospitals and health systems) needed to manage drug shortages. New entrants into the market are not anticipated to have a large effect on supply and prices are expected to rise steadily in 2020 for immunoglobulin products, while albumin, for which supply remains abundant, will likely see price reductions.
8-plus million
labor hours are dedicated to managing drug shortages in U.S. hospitals. Supply challenges in the Immune globulin intravenous (IgIV) market will continue and prices are expected to steadily rise. Vizient anticipates that supply of IgIV will continue to be limited for the remainder of 2019 and into the first half of 2020 as manufacturers work to increase production to meet demand.
