Growth In Prescription Drug Spending Slows


by Linda A. Johnson

TRENTON, N.J. - The national tab for prescription drugs last year grew at the second-slowest pace ever measured by a prominent health data firm.

Americans and their insurers spent $307.4 billion on prescription drugs in 2010, up just 2.3 percent from the previous year, according to data released Tuesday by IMS Health Inc. That's a slowdown from a 5.1 percent increase in 2009. Earlier in the decade, annual increases went as high as 13 percent.

Only 2008, the depths of the recession, saw drug spending grow more slowly.

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