Spending on Diabetes Treatments Surpasses $12 Billion in 2007
The cost of diabetes medications in the U.S. increased by 87% to $12.5 billion in 2007 from $6.7 billion in 2001, according to a study published on Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, Bloomberg/Boston Globe reports.
For the study, researchers from Stanford University and the University of Chicago analyzed two databases to determine trends in the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes who visited physicians between 1994 and 2007, as well as information on the cost of diabetes medications from 2001 to 2007. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and NIH funded the research.
The study found that the average cost of diabetes medications increased to $76 in 2007 from $56 in 2001 (Bloomberg/Boston Globe, 10/28).
In addition, the study found that more patients received multiple prescriptions for diabetes medications as new classes of the treatments became available (Johnson, AP/Houston Chronicle, 10/28).
According to the study, 82% of patients in 1994 received only one diabetes medication, compared with 47% of patients in 2007 (Bloomberg/Boston Globe, 10/28). The study also found that the number of patients who visited physicians increased to 19 million in 2007 from 14 million in 2000.
Caleb Alexander, a co-author of the study and an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, said, "There's been a remarkable change in diabetes treatments and remarkable increases in the cost of treatments over the past several years," (AP/Houston Chronicle, 10/28).
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