Specialty drugs or specialty pharmaceuticals are a recent designation of pharmaceuticals that are classified as high-cost, high complexity and/or high touch. Specialty drugs are often biologics—"drugs derived from living cells" that are injectable or infused (although some are oral medications). They are used to treat complex or rare chronic conditions such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, H.I.V. psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease and hepatitis C. In 1990 there were 10 specialty drugs on the market, in the mid-1990s there were fewer than 30, by 2008 there were 200, and by 2015 there were 300. Drugs are often defined as specialty because their price is much higher than that of non-specialty drugs. Medicare defines any drug for which the negotiated price is $670 per month or m
Specialty drugs or specialty pharmaceuticals are a recent designation of pharmaceuticals that are classified as high-cost, high complexity and/or high touch. Specialty drugs are often biologics—"drugs derived from living cells" that are injectable or infused (although some are oral medications). They are used to treat complex or rare chronic conditions such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, H.I.V. psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease and hepatitis C. In 1990 there were 10 specialty drugs on the market, in the mid-1990s there were fewer than 30, by 2008 there were 200, and by 2015 there were 300. Drugs are often defined as specialty because their price is much higher than that of non-specialty drugs. Medicare defines any drug for which the negotiated price is $670 per month or more, as a specialty drug which is placed in a specialty tier that requires a higher patient cost sharing. Drugs are also identified as specialty when there is a special handling requirement or the drug is only available via a limited distributions network. By 2015 "specialty medications accounted for one-third of all spending on drugs in the United States, up from 19 percent in 2004 and heading toward 50 percent in the next 10 years", according to IMS Health, which tracks prescriptions. According to a 2010 article in Forbes, specialty drugs for rare diseases became more expensive "than anyone imagined" and their success came "at a time when the traditional drug business of selling medicines to the masses" was "in decline". In 2015 analysis by The Wall Street Journal suggested the large premium was due to the perceived value of rare disease treatments which usually are very expensive when compared to treatments for more common diseases. (en) 美國特殊藥品（英語：specialty drugs/pharmaceuticals in the United States），简称特药（相对于普药），是對最近高成本，高度複雜和/或涉及需要醫事人員密切注意及照顧（）的藥品所給予的名稱。特殊藥品通常是生物製藥，“從活細胞發展出的藥品” - 可透過注射或輸注方式施用（也有口服式）。這類藥品用於治療複雜或罕見慢性病，例如癌症、類風濕關節炎、血友病、人類免疫缺乏病毒（HIV）、銀屑病（牛皮癬）、 炎症性腸病 、和C型肝炎。 在美國市場，1990年有10種特殊藥品，到1990年代中期，增加到接近30種，到2008年有200種，而到2015年則有300種。這類藥品被定義為“特殊”的原因是因為它們的價格比非屬特殊藥品的價格高很多。聯邦醫療保險（Medicare）把議價後每月價格在670美元，或更高的藥品定義為特殊藥品，將這種藥品歸類在患者需要分攤較高費用的等級中。如果藥品需要特殊處理，或只能經由有限的分銷網絡取得，這類藥品也被視為特殊藥品。根據針對美國醫療衛生產業提供資訊、服務、和技術的公司所提供的數據，在2015年，“特殊藥品占美國藥品總支出的三分之一，從2004年的19％上升，往10年後佔50％的方向前進”。根據2010年《富比士》雜誌上的一篇文章，針對治療罕見疾病的特殊藥品變得“超乎人們想像的昂貴”，並且它們的成功正逢“提供給大眾的傳統藥品業務開始式微的時候”。華爾街日報》在2015年刊出的報導中臆測，這種大幅的差價是由於治療罕見疾病與治療常見疾病相比，被感知的價值就非常昂貴的緣故。 (zh)
Specialty drugs or specialty pharmaceuticals are a recent designation of pharmaceuticals that are classified as high-cost, high complexity and/or high touch. Specialty drugs are often biologics—"drugs derived from living cells" that are injectable or infused (although some are oral medications). They are used to treat complex or rare chronic conditions such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, H.I.V. psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease and hepatitis C. In 1990 there were 10 specialty drugs on the market, in the mid-1990s there were fewer than 30, by 2008 there were 200, and by 2015 there were 300. Drugs are often defined as specialty because their price is much higher than that of non-specialty drugs. Medicare defines any drug for which the negotiated price is $670 per month or m (en) 美國特殊藥品（英語：specialty drugs/pharmaceuticals in the United States），简称特药（相对于普药），是對最近高成本，高度複雜和/或涉及需要醫事人員密切注意及照顧（）的藥品所給予的名稱。特殊藥品通常是生物製藥，“從活細胞發展出的藥品” - 可透過注射或輸注方式施用（也有口服式）。這類藥品用於治療複雜或罕見慢性病，例如癌症、類風濕關節炎、血友病、人類免疫缺乏病毒（HIV）、銀屑病（牛皮癬）、 炎症性腸病 、和C型肝炎。 (zh)
