IQVIA: Global Medicine Spending to Exceed USD 2.6 Trillion by 2030

According to the "Global Medicine Use Trends 2026" report published by the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science in February 2026, global medicine spending is expected to increase by 5–8% per year and exceed USD 2.6 trillion by 2030. The report expects total medicine usage worldwide to approach 4 trillion defined daily doses (DDD) by the end of the decade.

According to IQVIA, the biggest contributors to growth over the next five years will be oncology, immunology, diabetes and obesity drugs. IQVIA's March 2026 commentary stresses that the GLP-1 story shows no signs of peaking. At the same time, the same commentary expects a patent expiry wave to result in nearly USD 200 billion of brand losses, and the report lists the contribution of new products and the impact of patent expiries, including the growing impact of biosimilars, among the key drivers of growth.

Geographically, the U.S. and 14 other countries (those with GDP per capita on a purchasing power parity basis above USD 50,000 and pharmaceutical spending growing by more than USD 2 billion through 2030) will account for 76% of global growth through 2030. Spending in "pharmerging" markets, those with GDP per capita below USD 50,000 and pharmaceutical growth above USD 2 billion, is expected to grow by USD 120.8 billion through 2030, while Western Europe and Japan are expected to grow more slowly. For companies supplying medicines to Turkey, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, this picture calls for tracking both demand for innovative therapies and the generic and biosimilar opportunities opened by patent expiries; at CSC we follow these trends closely.

Source: IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science, "Global Medicine Use Trends 2026" (11 February 2026, iqvia.com); IQVIA blog, "IQVIA Institute's 2026 Forecast: Global Medicine Use Stays Strong Despite Headwinds" (March 2026).