Article: Prescription drug sales rise just 1.3% in 2008.(State of the Industry/The Issues)(Brief article)

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NORWALK, Conn. -- Prescription drug sales in the United States inched up in 2008 and will be pressured this year, but revenue growth is expected to remain solid over the long term.

Prescription sales rose 1.3% to $291.5 billion last year, compared with a 4% gain to $287.6 billion in 2007, according to data from IMS Health.

Chain stores accounted for $101.8 billion of U.S. prescription sales in 2008, up 3.8% from $98.1 billion in 2007. Mail-service prescription sales rose 2% to $46 billion last year, but prescription sales were off for food stores (down 5% to $20.9 billion) and independents (down 1.6% to $38.1 billion).

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