PSG Report Shows Double-Digit Specialty Drug Trend, but Opportunities for Savings Exist

Specialty drug trend continues to be in consistent double digits, with increases due to both spend and trend. That’s one of the findings of the 2023 Artemetrx Specialty Spend & Trend Report from Pharmaceutical Strategies Group (PSG), an EPIC company. And with the specialty drug pipeline continuing to pump out more and more expensive agents, opportunities for savings exist through the use of biosimilars and generic specialty drugs, among other strategies.

Published July 25, the report is sponsored by Walmart Specialty Pharmacy and includes data from 2022. Findings are based on an analysis of 347 million medical claims and 133 million pharmacy claims from PSG’s Artemetrx book of business. Artemetrx is a proprietary SaaS platform developed by PSG. This is the seventh annual version of the report, which started under the Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute (PBMI) moniker. In April 202, MJH Life Sciences acquired PBMI’s trademarks, conference, website, education and membership assets, while the current and future research and analytics projects remained with PSG.