At a Glance | October 1, 2018 Specialty Medication Implications Specialty medications are high-cost prescription drugs used to treat chronic, often rare, conditions such as autoimmune diseases and multiple sclerosis. 1 SPECIALTY MEDS ON THE RISE Share of Spending by Drug Type By 2020, specialty medications P ercentage Spent on: are expected to account 100% 76% 64% 52% Traditional Medications for nearly half of total drug spending in the commercial market, doubling in under 48% Specialty Medications 36% a decade. 24% 0% Projected Year 20 12 20 16 20 20 TOTAL SPENDING Spending by Employer/Insurer and Employee Combined 2 per Individual Being Treated The percentage of total 2013 Total Annual spending accounted for by Spending Portion Spent on Specialty Medications specialty medications $50,722 ranged from 19% for ulcerative Multiple Sclerosis $33,360 (66%) colitis to 66% for multiple sclerosis. $32,962 Crohn’s Disease $10,834 (33%) $24,172 Ulcerative Colitis $4,641 (19%) $23,114 Rheumatoid Arthritis $9,471 (41%) $19,116 Psoriasis $9,929 (52%) SHORT-TERM DISABILITY DAYS Impact of Employees Use of Specialty Medications on Short-Term Disability Days Our expectation was that Estimated Change in Short-Term Disability Days use of specialty medications Reduction Additional Days might increase productivity by +5.1 reducing both absenteeism Multiple Sclerosis and short-term disability among workers with these treatable -37.6 Crohn’s Disease autoimmune disorders. Yet, we did not find strong evidence +7.5 Ulcerative Colitis to support this. +10.1 Rheumatoid Arthritis -42.6 Psoriasis 1. Express Scripts, Drug Trend Report, 2012–2017, and EBRI projection. 2. EBRI estimates based on administrative enrollment and claims data. . © 2018 EBRI