Health
Questions and answers
Cost increases are due to several factors.
- Pharmaceutical companies are producing a record number of medications and many carry a high price tag. It cost an average of $500 million to discover and develop one new medicine, and it takes an average of 12 to 15 years to bring a new medicine from the laboratory to the pharmacy shelf.
- Drugs are used more and more to avert illness and hospital admissions. Asthma, heart disease, and ulcers are among conditions successfully being treated with drugs.
- The over-age 65 population is growing larger and living longer and this leads to an increase in the utilization of prescription drugs.