Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs category; and cost less on average than other drugs in the category. Several of the Best Buys have been chosen because of their superior effectiveness or safety profile even though they may cost more. The project publishes Best Buy Drugs drug reports, the first three such reports covered Statins to reduce high cholesterol, heartburn drugs, and NSAIDs commonly used to treat arthritis. The project covers over 20 conditions and the most widely used drugs. The reports are published in web versions, and two-page PDF summaries in English and Spanish. More than half of all prescription drugs cause adverse effects—some serious
Specialty drugs in the United States are often defined as specialty because their price is much higher than that of non-specialty drugs. Medicare defines any drug for which the negotiated price is $670 per month or more, as a specialty drug which is placed in a specialty tier that requires a higher patient cost sharing. Drugs are also identified as specialty when there is a special handling requirement or the drug is only available via a limited distributions network. By 2015 "specialty medications accounted for one-third of all spending on drugs in the United States, up from 19 percent in 2004 and heading toward 50 percent