AH071 - A Look at What's Really Driving Drug Spend, and How it Impacts Us, with IQVIA's Michael Kleinrock

This episode of the Astonishing Healthcare podcast features Michael Kleinrock, Director, Research Development at the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science. We explore key highlights from their most recent annual report - Understanding the Use of Medicines in the U.S. 2025 - with an eye toward implications for plan sponsors and the health benefits market. What are the key drivers of higher drug spend beyond GLP-1s? At what cost do consumers abandon prescriptions at the counter? How is biosimilar adoption going, and what impact is it having on trend? We answer these questions and many more, including how the IRA could impact innovation, vaccination rates, and what was most surprising to Michael in the data: hint, it's how much prices really changed year-over-year! Additional Reference Materials (IQVIA Institute Reports & Publications)Assessing the Biosimilar Void in the U.S.Proliferation of Innovation Over TimeRelated ContentAH048 - High-Cost Orphan Drugs, Securing Claims Data, and More, with Dr. Eric BrickerAH055 - Pharmacy Benefits 101: Stop-Loss Insurance, with Mike Miele, FSA, MAAAReplay - Innovative partnerships for GLP-1 management, with Vida HealthHow to Manage Pharmacy Benefit Spend in a GLP-1 WorldFor more information about Capital Rx and this episode, please visit Capital Rx Insights.