The World's Impending $1.2 Trillion Drug Bill, in Two Charts
The United States is the single largest consumer of prescription drugs on the planet. Over the next several years, Americans will still pay more for their treatments than any other nation. But the share of American drug consumption will also be shrinking against the backdrop of a rapid expansion in prescription and generic drug use among developing states like China, Brazil, and other growing targets the drug industry has dubbed "pharmerging" markets.
That's the forecast from the IMS Institute for Healthcare, whose report on the global drug business predicts pharma to become a $1.2 trillion industry by 2016. The full report comes along with a handful of charts, but here's one:
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/07/the-worlds-impending-12-trillion-drug-bill-in-two-charts/259746/
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34% of total drug use......wow
