Metric: US pharmaceutical sales to grow at 8-9% rate

IMS Health released its forecast for the 2006 pharmaceutical market. The provider of drug industry intelligence anticipates that the US market for prescription drugs will grow at a rate between 8 percent and 9 percent. The company notes many factors will be at play in the market this year which could lead to significant changes. IMS identifies the launch of Medicare Part D in January, the loss of patent protections for six major branded drugs and state efforts to control rising prescription drug costs as key issues likely to impact the market.

- see this executive summary from IMS