To view the latest data, view 2020 Access & Savings Report
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.
4B
(billion)
Generic
Prescriptions
Filled in 2018
90%
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
“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.
Jonnie
Generic medications help
keep me healthy.
$292.6B
(Billion)
Generic drug
savings in the
U.S. 2018
$90.3B
Medicare Savings
($2,254 per enrollee)
$46.8B
Medicaid Savings
($817 per enrollee)
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.
Our Interactive Savings Map
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.
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.
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Data source: IQVIA 2019, biosimilars as of 7/23/19