2019 Generic Drug and Biosimilars Access and Savings in the U.S.
The 11th annual edition of AAM’s Savings and Access Report quantifies how much money American patients and our health care system are saving because of generic and biosimilar alternatives to brand-name prescription and biologic medications. In 2018, generic savings totaled $293 billion. The “Case for Competition” in a nutshell: The presence in the market of FDA-approved safe and effective generic and biosimilar medicines saves more Americans more money every year.
Prescriptions filled in the U.S. are dispensed as generics
22%
Generic share of overall drug spending in the U.S.
95.3%
Generic prescriptions filled at $20 or less
$5.63
Generic
$40.65
Brand-Name
Avg. copay
Generic drugs generate competition and reduce overall drug spending.
- The Pew Charitable Trusts
“The good news is that cheaper biotech drugs are coming. Known as biosimilars, these complex copycat drugs (which are a bit like generics) have been allowed in Europe since 2004 and in America since 2010. At first, owing to policy roadblocks and anti-competitive tactics by incumbents, only a few came to market. But the firms that make them, which range from biotech giants to scrappy upstarts, are turning the trickle into a torrent.” --The Economist, 2018
Patient savings case study:
Jonnie – Heart Disease Patient, Oklahoma
Jonnie of Skiatook, OK, manages her heart condition with metoprolol ER, the generic form of the brand-name drug Toprol XL. Metoprolol costs around $6, which is 81 percent less than the average retail price of $33.10 for the brand. On the other hand, there is no generic of the estrogen replacement she takes, and what she pays for the brand product equals her car payment.
23 biosimilars have been approved in the U.S. to date and 9 are on the market. Biosimilars could lead to more than $54 billion in savings over the next ten years, giving 1.2 million patients access to needed medicines.
The U.S. drug supply chain remains one of the safest in the world.
In 2018, the per-state average savings realized by using generic prescription drugs was $5.7 billion. To view a full break down of generic savings by state and payer type, choose a state in the drop-down menu to download a one-page summary of how much that state saved from generic medicines.
Please note: state savings totals are rounded from actual totals.
Savings by Condition
Fact Sheets: Savings by Patient Condition
When patients and providers opt for generic and biosimilar alternatives instead of brand-name prescription and biologic medications, the savings really add up—for any condition being treated. We also compiled data for common co-morbidities of each of these conditions.
Take Action
Send a message to your lawmaker to protect your generic savings.