admin @ Tue, 2005-10-25 17:46
TUESDAY, Oct. 25 (HealthDay News) — By using generic drugs, American consumers could have saved $20 billion in 2004, and even more could be saved in 2005 and future years, says a report released Tuesday by Express Scripts Inc.
The 2004 Generic Drug Usage Report was based on a random sample of about three million people and examined six drug categories used to treat common conditions such as depression, high blood pressure, inflammation, stomach ulcers, and high cholesterol.
The report also ranked generic drug use and savings opportunities by state, revealing significant variations across the country.
Generic drugs for gastrointestinal problems offer the most potential for savings. These kinds of generic drugs have a nationwide dispensing rate of 31 percent, but could reach as much as 95 percent and drive down costs by $5.4 billion a year, the report said.
Generic anti-cholesterol drugs are dispensed 7 percent of the time nationally but could reach 70 percent and reduce drug costs by $5.1 billion a year, according to the study.
"We have only scratched the surface in taking advantage of the money-saving potential of clinically sound generic drugs," study co-author Dr. Steve Miller, vice president of research at Express Scripts, said in a prepared statement.
"As additional generics come to market and the use of prescription drugs grows, the opportunity to lower health-care costs becomes even more significant. Best of all, using more generics simply requires better education and awareness of alternatives, not a big-dollar, up-front investment," Miller said.
"Consider that $20 billion in generic drug savings in just six therapy classes is the same amount America's community hospitals spend each year on uncompensated care for the uninsured," he noted.
Express Scripts is one of the United States' largest managers of pharmacy benefit plans for employers, governments, unions and health plans.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has more about generic drugs .
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