Evercore reports July prescription volumes up 1.9% year-over-year

Investing.com -- Total prescription volumes in the United States increased 1.9% year-over-year in July and 1.6% month-over-month, reaching 575 million prescriptions, according to an Evercore analysis released today.

Branded prescriptions rose 3.7%, generic prescriptions climbed 1.6%, and specialty prescriptions jumped 8.5% compared to the same period last year. Mail order volumes increased 8.4% year-over-year in July, representing approximately 13.0% of total market share.

Medical specialty sales growth slowed to approximately 12% year-over-year in June, down from roughly 14% in May. This marks a decline from the 24% peak recorded in July 2025. Oncology followed a similar pattern, growing approximately 11% year-over-year compared to a 25% peak.

GLP-1 prescriptions reached approximately 12.0 million in July, up roughly 29% year-over-year and 4% month-over-month, accounting for about 2.1% of total prescriptions. The share of cash-pay GLP-1 prescriptions rose to approximately 18%, compared to roughly 5% in July 2025.

The Medicare GLP-1 Bridge program, which launched July 1, 2026, sets a $50 monthly copay for eligible Part D beneficiaries through 2027 for Foundayo, Wegovy, and Zepbound. Combined weekly new prescriptions for these three drugs averaged 780,000 over the final three weeks of July versus 698,000 in June, an increase of 11.6%. Zepbound new prescriptions increased 14.4%, Wegovy rose 6.5%, and Foundayo climbed 47.6% from a small base.

Generic drug deflation was 7.1% in June compared to 7.8% in May, while branded drug inflation remained flat.

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