Global Spending on Cancer Drugs Hits $100 Billion

Worldwide spending on cancer medicines reached $100 billion in 2014, according to IMS Health's latest Global Oncology Trend Report. The figure represents an increase of 10.3 percent on 2013 and 10.8 percent of all drug spending globally.   The US accounted for 42.2 percent of total spending, followed by Europe's "Big 5"countries - Germany, France, Britain, Spain and Italy - where oncology spending rose to 14.7 percent of total drug spending, up from 13.3 percent in 2010. (U.S. oncology spending increased to 11.3 percent of the total from 10.7 percent over the same period).   Forty-five new cancer drugs were launched between 2010 and 2014, with the broadest access seen in the US, Germany and Britain. Fewer than half the new drugs were available in South Korea, Spain or Japan, says the report.   The increase in cancer drug spend is set to continue at a compound annual growth rate of 6–8 percent between now and 2018, as new treatments spurring the immune system come onto the market.   The report's compiler, Murray Aitken, executive director of IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics and a Pharm Exec Editorial Advisory Board member, commented: "We're in for a period of intense competition among alternative treatments, which is a different dynamic than we've seen in the past where the progress has been a little slower and individual drugs had a little more time."