Rx drugs - all aboard the gravy train

For the first time ever, global spending on prescription drugs has topped $600 billion, even as growth slowed in Europe and North America.

Worldwide sales of prescription medicines worldwide rose 7% to $602 billion, according to IMS.

The United States still accounts for the lion's share of that, with $252 billion in annual sales, but sales in it and the other nine biggest markets grew by only 5.7%.

But emerging markets such as China, Russia, South Korea and Mexico outpaced those markets, growing a whopping 81%.

Source: Forbes