Rx Concerns: Late last week, Medicare officials released their most detailed breakdown to date of prescription drug claims for beneficiaries under Medicare’s Part D program.  Unsurprisingly, for those that have been following the discussion concerning the unsustainable trajectory of drug prices in this country, a small number of drugs was found to be largely responsible for driving up spending.  Those costly drugs, for diseases such as cancer and multiple sclerosis, accounted for more than a quarter of overall spending on prescriptions for the country’s disabled and elderly population, despite representing just one percent of claims.  Separately, a new study highlights just how much spending on oncology drugs alone has grown in recent years.  Released by IMS Health, their Global Oncology Trend Report puts global spending on cancer drugs at $100 billion in 2014, an increase of 10.3 percent from the previous year and, perhaps most alarmingly, up $75 billion from five years earlier.  Driven largely by expensive newer treatments, they project that spending on these drugs could rise to as much as $147 billion by 2018.  The separate reports only add fuel to the raging conflagration already threatening to reduce our health care system to ashes.  Already under the microscope for their lack of transparency (not to mention some of their more questionable pricing decisions), drug makers have pledged more openness in their process.  Whether or not this represents more than just a superficial image overhaul, many believe that it’s time Washington shifted its focus from innovation in the prescription drug space to the issue of cost.