The cost of prescription drugs has risen steadily over the past decade and shows no sign of stopping. 

A survey of 60 leading health care vendors conducted by Aon, a major human resources consulting firm, shows that the cost of prescription drugs is on pace to increase by 10 percent in the next year, up from the estimated 6.3 increase over the past year. The cost of specialty pharmacy drugs is rising even faster — 22.7 percent in the coming year versus the estimated 18.2 percent rise over the past 12 months. 

"There is a robust pipeline of specialty drugs, which is contributing to the dramatic spike we see in cost trend," said John Malley, head of Aon Health's Innovation Pharmacy Team. "Oncology drugs have been filling the pipeline and will be the largest category of specialty drug approvals in the near future. Specialty drugs for cholesterol may also have a significant impact, given that the market has not had this type of drug for such a prevalent disease state before."

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