Medicare and Medicaid spent $7.03 billion for Gilead’s Harvoni in 2015

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) released data highlighting the costliest drugs to Medicare in 2015. Harvoni from Gilead Sciences, a hepatitis C treatment, was the most expensive drug for Medicare in 2015, with $7.3 billion in total spending.

The new data shows prescription medications that experienced sharp price increases and reveals total prescription drug costs were at about $457 billion in 2015 — approximately 16.7% of personal healthcare spending. This figure is up from $367 billion — about 15.4% of personal healthcare spending — in 2012.

“With annual growth expected to average 6.7% through 2025, we can expect increasing costs to continue to put pressure on families and programs that cover prescription drugs,” said Andy Slavitt, acting CMS administrator.

The following show the 10 most expensive drugs for Medicare in 2015.

1. Harvoni (hepatitis C treatment) — $7.03 billion
2. Lantus; Lantus Solostar (diabetes)  — $4.36 billion
3. Crestor (high cholesterol) — $2.88 billion
4. Advair Diskus (asthma) — $2.27 billion
5. Spiriva (COPD) — $2.19 billion
6. Januvia (diabetes) — $2.13 billion
7. Revlimid (anemia) — $2.08 billion
8. Nexium (gastroesophageal reflux disease) — $2.01 billion
9. Eylea (age-related macular degeneration) — $1.81 billion
10. Lyrica (nerve and muscle pain) — $1.77 billion

http://health-system-management.advanceweb.com/top-10-most-expensive-drugs-revealed/