Aging America fuels drug industry

Alexandria resident Martha Clement pops seven prescription pills each morning, washing them down with an 8-ounce glass of water. She takes two more in the evening.

The retired 78-year-old started most of her seven medications in the past decade, primarily because heart conditions and arthritis pain had cropped up.

“I feel very lucky that at my age I am independent, in the sense that I can take care of myself and sort out my own medication,” Ms. Clement said.

She is one of the estimated 119 million Americans, or 44 percent of the population, who take at least one prescription drug to quell ailments ranging from chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure to “lifestyle conditions” such as sexual impotence and baldness.

Seventeen percent of those people take three or more medications, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Patients last year spent $235.4 billion on prescription drugs, up 8 percent from 2003 sales of $217.3 billion, according to Fairfield, Conn., pharmaceutical information and consulting company IMS Health Inc. The pharmaceutical industry is expected to post 7.5 percent to 8.5 percent sales growth this year.

Doctors and health care researchers said they see no slowdown in America’s prescription-drug use. In fact, they expect more consumers of all ages to start prescriptions as more drugs come on the market, the population ages and lives longer, patients go on drugs to avoid making changes in their diets and lifestyles, and advertising continues to proliferate.

More medications are available now than ever before, treating conditions such as heart disease, depression, attention-deficit disorder, social anxiety, arthritis pain and Alzheimer’s disease.

An estimated 10,800 brand and generic drugs, which include prescription and over-the-counter medications, are sold in the United States, said the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PHRMA), a Washington trade group.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved 27 new drugs last year, up from 21 in 2003.

Americans are living and staying on prescriptions longer, with life expectancy reaching a record high in 2003 of 77.6 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health problems, especially chronic diseases that require lifelong prescriptions, are increasingly being detected earlier in a patient’s life.

More treatments are being approved for chronic diseases, such as diabetes, osteoporosis and high blood pressure.

As many as 146 potential medicines just to treat heart diseases and strokes are in human clinical testing, PHRMA spokesman Jeff Trewhitt said.

With the abundance of treatments, more doctors are prescribing medications for preventing diseases, as well as treating current ones.

Story Continues →