IMS Health Forecasts Global Drug Spending to Increase 30 Percent by 2020, to $1.4 Trillion, As Medicine Use Gap Narrows

DANBURY, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--More than half of the world’s population will live in countries where medicine use will exceed one dose per person per day by 2020, up from 31 percent in 2005, as the “medicine use gap” between developed and pharmerging markets narrows. According to new research released today by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, total spending on medicines will reach $1.4 trillion by 2020 due to greater patient access to chronic disease treatments and breakthrough innovations in drug therapies. Global spending is forecast to grow at a 4-7 percent compound annual rate over the next five years.