Prescription drug sales up 8% in ‘06, report says

U.S. prescription drug sales rose 8.3% to $274.9 billion last year, fueled by the Medicare drug benefit, increased use of generic medicines and new treatments for diseases such as cancer and diabetes, a report said

This year, the pace of sales growth is expected to slow but remain in a compounded annual rate of 6% to 9% through 2010 as the Medicare drug benefit is annualized and more generic products enter the market, according to the report by IMS Health.

U.S. drug sales rose 5.8% to $253.7 billion in 2005.