U.S. spending on prescription drugs jumped 13 percent last year to a total of $374 billion because of a huge increase in the number of Americans who have health insurance. “It was the largest dollar growth in a single year we’ve ever measured,” said IMS Health’s Michael Kleinrock. That spending is in part due to an absurdly expensive Hepatitis C drug marketed by Gilead: The breakthrough cure costs $80,000 per patient.
