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The
Market for
Prescription Drugs
Expenditures
on prescription drugs account for more than 10
percent of the $1.5 trillion annual domestic healthcare market. However, a significant portion of the U.S.
population – 45 million according to recent estimates or more than 15
percent
of the total population – remains uninsured or underinsured, excluded
from
receiving the drugs critical to health, longevity and quality of life.
The market
for delivering prescriptions to medically
uninsured and underinsured consumers is $8 billion strong.
The total
market for prescription drugs is expected
to top $446 billion in the next decade due to several market drivers:
An
Aging Population. More than 40
percent of the U.S. population will be over the age of 50 by the end of
2005. This demographic represents the
largest percentage of new prescriptions filled.
·
Increased Life Expectancy. The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
reported that life
expectancy in the United States reached an all time high of 77.2 years
in 2001,
an upward trend broken only once in the past decade.
·
Introduction of New
Drugs. The introduction of new drugs for new
indications and improvements
on existing drugs are fueling continued growth for the pharmaceutical
industry.
Direct-to-Consumer
Advertising.
Pharmaceutical companies have dramatically increased
their focus on
direct to consumer (DTC) advertising. Industry analyst Verispan has
estimated
that more than 70 percent of consumers identify drugs for
self-diagnosed
conditions largely via DTC advertisements, and doctors have been shown
to issue
prescriptions for drugs requested by consumers more than 90 percent of
the
time.
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