Consumers Not Using Prescription Drugs

Ongoing market research among drug consumers found that 54% of individuals who visit a physician for a new condition do not treat it with a prescription drug within a year. The data released from the research firm of Ipsos-Insight indicated that 4.4 million individuals see a physician in an average week for a new diagnosis. For those with a newly diagnosed condition, 46% filled at least 1 prescription to treat the condition; 21% chose =1 OTC medications; and 44% did not make a purchase in the category during the year. Prescriptions are filled 98% of the time, however, so it is likely that the 54% of patients not making an Rx drug purchase never received a script.