Dr. Patrick Gleason Speaks on Trends in Prescription Drug Spending

Patrick Gleason, PharmD, Director of Health Outcomes, Prime Therapeutics, says by 2017, 50% of all expenditures for drugs will be in the specialty drug space. “It suffices to say that it’s pharmaceutical manufacturer price increases that are driving or fueling the specialty drug trend with an increase in utilization, and we foresee this growing in the future,” Dr Gleason said. “What’s really interesting is to look at the expenditures of specialty drugs not just on the pharmacy benefit, but the medical benefit.”