Drug Costs Grew Last Year at Fastest Rate in Decade, Report Says

U.S. drug spending rose last year at the fastest rate in more than a decade, driven by high-priced hepatitis C medicines, according to a report Tuesday from benefit manager Express Scripts Holding Co.

Per-person spending by commercial health plans jumped 13 percent, the most since 2003, as spending on specialty drugs grew 31 percent. That includes cancer drugs, which rose 21 percent last year, and hepatitis C treatments, which rose more than eightfold, pushed up by Gilead Sciences Inc.’s Sovaldi.