Some quick facts from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

1. Spending in the US for prescription drugs was $216.7 billion in 2006, more than 5 times the $40.3 billion spent in 1990.
2. The US Department of Health and Human Services projects US prescription drug spending to increase from $216.7 billion in 2006 to $515.7 billion in 2017, a 138% increase in 11 years.
3. Although prescription drug spending has been a relatively small proportion of national health care spending (10% in 2006, compared to 31% for hospitals and 21% for physician services), it has been one of the fastest growing components, until recently growing at double-digit rates compared to single-digit rates for hospital and physician services.
4. Drug spending as a percent of overall health spending is projected to increase from 10% in 2006 to 12% in 2017.
5. From 1997 to 2007, the number of prescriptions purchased increased 72% (from 2.2 billion to 3.8 billion), compared to a US population growth of 11%.
6. Retail prescription prices increased an average of 6.9% a year from 1997 to 2007 (from an average price of $35.72 to $69.91), more than two and a half times the average annual inflation rate of 2.6% over the same period.
7. The average brand name prescription price in 2007 was over 3 times the average generic price ($119.51 vs.$34.34).
8. Spending for consumer advertising in 2007 was over 4 times the amount spent in 1996($3.7 billion vs. $0.8 billion), while 2007 physician advertising was almost 2 times the 1996 amount ($6.7 billion vs. $3.5 billion).
9. From 1995 to 2002, pharmaceutical manufacturers were the nation’s most profitable industry (profits as a percent of revenues). They ranked 3rd in profitability in 2003 and 2004, 5th in 2005, 2nd in 2006, and 3rd in 2007, with profits of 15.8% compared to 5.7% for all Fortune 500 firms in 2007: Prescription drug sales were $286.5 billion in 2007.