Vizient’s latest spend management outlook, which the company has published biannually since 2010, predicts specialty and personalized medicines will be the primary drivers of growing pharmaceutical costs.
Here are six things to know from the report:
1. There are several factors propelling this forecasted increase, including more specialty and complex drugs gaining approval, growing utilization as FDA-approved medications receive additional indications, unusual price increases on already approved therapies, and payer restrictions influencing site of care and class of trade.
2. With several cell and gene therapy candidates in the pipeline, “providers will need to invest more time and attention to the significant administrative and financial challenges of these agents,” Vizient said, “as well as the staffing and technology needed to conduct benefits investigation, patient education, clinical monitoring and financial planning.”
3. Specialty and complex medication prices are expected to inflate 4.4% between July 2025 and June 2026. Humira, Stelara and Skyrizi are projected to have the highest price increases.
4. Vizient listed multiple high-impact investigational drugs that could be approved in 2025. The outlook highlighted two of the most notable: a subcutaneous version of amivantamab (Rybrevant), for non-small cell lung cancer, with an estimated wholesale acquisition cost of $325,000 to $525,000; and camrelizumab, a new first-line treatment for unresectable or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma, with an estimated WAC of $170,000 to $250,000.
5. About 8% of hospitals’ and health systems’ non-labor spend is dedicated to medications.
6. Medline divided projected pharmaceutical spend by different segments. Over a year, pharmaceutical spend is estimated to increase 3% in acute care and 3.96% in ambulatory care.
