NCP in the News: IRI and CHPA Study Finds OTC Medicines Save U.S. Health Care System $146 Billion Each Year

(Source: Business Wire)

 

CHICAGO — (BUSINESS WIRE) — Mar 28, 2019 — IRI ®, a global leader in innovative solutions and services for consumer, retail and media companies, and the Consumer Health Products Association (CHPA), today released a joint study, “Value of OTC Medicines to the U.S. Health Care System,” which quantifies the savings value over-the-counter (OTC) medicine and products afford the U.S. health care system and patients each year. The landmark study found that, on average, each dollar spent on OTC medicines saves the U.S. health care system approximately $7.20, totaling nearly $146 billion in annual savings.

 

“Our study results show that the value created by the availability of OTC products is hard to overstate,” said Scott Melville, president and chief executive officer of CHPA. “Beyond the $146 billion our study quantified in direct savings, OTC products also provide substantial indirect value by affording increased productivity through fewer missed work days and the expansion of treatment access to 27 million Americans who would otherwise forgo treatment if OTCs were not available.”

 

The study examined survey results of more than 5,000 consumers who participate in IRI’s National Consumer Panel and determined that direct cost savings due to the availability of OTC medicine come from two primary sources: the substitution of lower-priced OTCs for expensive prescription drugs and the substitution of self-treatment for clinical visits. IRI and CHPA found that these two primary impacts of OTC drug availability contribute nearly $52 billion and $95 billion in respective cost savings annually.

 

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