New Treatments Drive Up Spending On Diabetes

Annual U.S. spending on prescription drugs to treat diabetes rose 87% between 2001 and 2007. A study in the Oct. 27 Archives of Internal Medicine revealed total annual expenditures for diabetes medications rose from $6.7 billion in 2001 to $12.5 billion in 2007, while the average drug price per prescription rose from $56 to $76. Estimated patient visits to office-based physicians for type 2 diabetes grew from 37 million in 2000 to 45 million in 2007.