Top 100 Most Prescribed, Top Selling Drugs

neversickanymore

neversickanymore

Moderator: DS
Staff member
Joined
Jan 23, 2013
Messages
31,518
Location
babysitting the argument in my head
Top 100 Most Prescribed, Top Selling Drugs
Megan Brooks
May 13, 2014

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/825053

The hypothyroid medication levothyroxine (Synthroid, AbbVie) continues to be the nation's most prescribed drug, and the antipsychotic aripiprazole (Abilify, Otsuka Pharmaceutical) continues to have the highest sales, at nearly $6.9 billion, according to the latest data from research firm IMS Health.

The data reflect a rolling 12 months of history (April 2013 - March 2014) on the top 100 drugs by total sales and total prescriptions in the United States.

Following levothyroxine (with just more than 23 million prescriptions) as most prescribed drug in the United States were the cholesterol-lowering drug rosuvastatin (Crestor, AstraZeneca), at about 22.9 million; the proton pump inhibitor esomeprazole (Nexium, AstraZeneca), at roughly 19.3 million; the asthma medication albuterol (Ventolin HFA, GlaxoSmithKline), at about 17.5 million; and the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease medication fluticasone/salmeterol (Advair Diskus, GlaxoSmithKline), at more than 15.5 million.

Rounding out the top 10 most prescribed drugs for the period were the antidepressant duloxetine (Cymbalta, Eli Lilly), the antihypertensive valsartan (Diovan, Novartis), the attention deficit drug lisdexamfetamine dimesylate (Vyvanse, Shire), insulin glargine injection (Lantus Solostar, sanofi-aventis), and the antiepileptic pregabalin (Lyrica, Pfizer).

After aripiprazole, the next best selling drugs for the period April 2013 through March 2014 were esomeprazole magnesium (Nexium, AstraZeneca) at nearly $6.3 billion, and the arthritis drug adalimumab (Humira, AbbVie), at $5.9 billion.

Rounding out the top 10 in sales were Crestor ($5.5 billion), Advair Diskus ($5.1 billion), the arthritis drugs etanercept (Enbrel, Amgen; almost $4.9 billion) and infliximab (Remicade, Centocor; $4.2 billion), Cymbalta ($4.1 billion), the multiple sclerosis drug glatiramer acetate (Copaxone, Teva Pharm; almost $3.7 billion), and the neutropenia drug pegfilgrastim (Neulasta, Amgen; $3.6 billion).

Table 1. Top 100 Drugs by Sales
Rank Drug (Brand Name) Sales Through March 2014
1 Abilify $6,885,243,368
2 Nexium $6,271,376,299
3 Humira $5,936,288,498
4 Crestor $5,502,148,010
5 Advair Diskus $5,112,576,549
6 Enbrel $4,896,267,318
7 Remicade $4,235,535,358
8 Cymbalta $4,095,537,942
9 Copaxone $3,679,837,035
10 Neulasta $3,634,919,067
11 Lantus Solostar $3,375,632,862
12 Rituxan $3,320,475,967
13 Spiriva Handihaler $3,140,602,715
14 Januvia $2,975,320,499
15 Atripla $2,894,627,347
16 Lantus $2,796,784,267
17 Avastin $2,742,284,655
18 Lyrica $2,611,451,728
19 Oxycontin $2,528,601,587
20 Epogen $2,346,224,521
21 Celebrex $2,342,549,444
22 Truvada $2,307,970,304
23 Diovan $2,190,542,692
24 Gleevec $1,995,042,989
25 Herceptin $1,971,724,243
26 Lucentis $1,917,919,037
27 Namenda $1,871,956,353
28 Vyvanse $1,848,814,801
29 Zetia $1,826,260,072
30 Levemir $1,775,037,064
31 Symbicort $1,733,830,589
32 Sovaldi $1,724,867,241
33 Novolog Flexpen $1,482,659,229
34 Novolog $1,409,680,368
35 Tecfidera $1,394,704,148
36 Suboxone $1,388,805,102
37 Humalog $1,310,236,982
38 Xarelto $1,263,697,546
39 Seroquel XR $1,251,615,894
40 Viagra $1,235,125,299
41 Alimta $1,205,717,422
42 Victoza 3-Pak $1,186,784,355
43 Avonex $1,184,476,004
44 Nasonex $1,180,165,756
45 Cialis $1,170,843,904
46 Gilenya $1,097,409,827
47 Stelara $1,083,660,282
48 Flovent HFA $1,078,422,967
49 Prezista $1,046,464,870
50 Procrit $1,037,298,436
51 Isentress $1,037,220,122
52 Janumet $1,028,179,032
53 Renvela $1,023,751,529
54 Humalog Kwikpen $1,003,100,788
55 Orencia $990,449,529
56 Dexilant $967,408,551
57 Vesicare $967,408,277
58 Neupogen $944,389,150
59 Reyataz $935,417,307
60 Lunesta $927,689,337
61 Synthroid $899,215,664
62 Pradaxa $862,604,444
63 Zytiga $861,683,197
64 Benicar $860,761,655
65 Xolair $859,052,353
66 Avonex Pen $849,256,894
67 Vytorin $846,602,646
68 Invega Sustenna $831,061,694
69 Sensipar $824,871,721
70 Xgeva $822,603,435
71 Prevnar 13 $821,372,081
72 Evista $815,315,970
73 Aranesp $814,017,366
74 Betaseron $792,093,855
75 Stribild $785,645,319
76 Combivent Respimat $768,925,543
77 Xeloda $761,832,629
78 Afinitor $761,796,538
79 Ventolin HFA $761,324,992
80 Synagis $755,220,544
81 Zyvox $732,206,096
82 Bystolic $719,917,435
83 Sandostatin LAR $708,264,105
84 Complera $696,270,123
85 Benicar HCT $692,128,910
86 Treanda $691,670,874
87 Gardasil $683,558,728
88 Zostavax $679,653,129
89 Pristiq $660,397,547
90 Erbitux $660,368,777
91 Focalin XR $647,720,027
92 Tarceva $646,108,218
93 Cubicin $643,649,546
94 Strattera $640,562,124
95 Latuda $639,903,393
96 Velcade $624,619,639
97 Viread $606,046,798
98 Welchol $603,644,260
99 Nuvaring $600,191,343
100 Sprycel $599,882,414
Source: IMS National Prescription Audit, IMS Health.
 
Last edited:
Ah I can't access medscape. Anyway u can copy the article

Edit. Was a me to reg an account and of course suns and oxy are on the list. Surprised no xanax...guess it it isn't expensive empigh to male the list.
 
Last edited:
It is a bit misleading as they are not including generics in the most prescribed list. Hydrocodone/apap usually tops that list.
 
Kittycat5 said:
It is a bit misleading as they are not including generics in the most prescribed list. Hydrocodone/apap usually tops that list.
Click to expand...

Yeah, what's up with that? From my experience working with patients, the one I see most often is the acid reflux drug Prevacid (lansoprazole).
 
^Where do you practice? Lansoprazole is semi-popular in the states, but nowhere near the top seller in any of my practices.
 
phatass said:
^^ but it's not the drugs that are the most prescribed i think, rather the ones that make the most money... no wonder abilify at +100 euros a box is number 1
Click to expand...

There is a list in the article for both. I guess they just included the brands though.
 
Thyroid hormone is the number one prescribed medication on the list? What causes so many endocrine problems in Americans? That seems really high.

Billions spent on health care and life expectancy in the United States remains lower than dozens of countries spending less per capita.
VqU3FFN.png
 
That list reads like a 100 characters from some sci-fi series or something.
The people responsible for the creation of these brand-name pharmaceuticals are either really immersed in science fiction/fantasy culture...or perhaps it sells the products by creating a mystical wonders-of-modern-science vibe around them?
 
^^ Well that is true of all these drugs. The saddest thing to me is all the HIV meds. Billions and billions for them. And the government pays for quite a lot. When will the US get their heads out their ass and negotiate these prices down. Probably never.
 
^ some governments subsidise pharmaceuticals to make them affordable for everyone - it's what happens here (Australia).
Something I'm happy tax revenue to be spent on - people need medicine whether they can afford it or not.
 
That is in sales, but I think in units Nexium is probably number 1.

I am impressed that Lyrica ranked so high
 
I like how vyvanse ranks so high, because for some reason its ok for pharmaceutical companies to advertise SPEED at consumers who arent already on pharmspeed, then charge them assloads for essentially dexedrine XRs shitty, expensive, retarded offspring.
"Isitadultadhd" iirc is the ad campaigns.
I should make one myself, except mine promote methamphetamine hcl.
or make a brand of "organic" or "simple" pseudo cold pills
Advertise that they dont contain any nonactives other than a binder or some shit.
i long for the days when pharm companies at least would advertise speed that was GOOD ans not basically censored due to content amphetamine, vyvanse doesnt even work better than dexedrine spansules in any way ejther.
that and you notice, the drug companies are happy to count all the money they made on a drug, even if theyre making an assload from sales driven by demand due to illicit abuse
So theyll seize my shit if i buy it with drug money, or they just feel like taking it, but when the government seizes pharms they dont take the profit the pharmaceutical company made from the pills (eg. Each pill wholesale costs x dollars, for every pill seized, government collects x dollars in taxes from manufacturer)
this is why people need to start filing lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies wjen they get addicted to meds andnshit.
because they make THE MOST money in the psychoactive drug trade, even if that means sometimes misleading people/breaking laws, because nothing is ever done anyway.
in the 60s, abuse of liquid IV injection amphetamine products shocked the public enough that they were banned and shelved quickly, just based upon becoming popular with heroin addicts.
now, Oxycontin, Opana, etc. have became way more popular than methedrine could have ever hoped for, but the government wont step in and say enough is enough, we will yank your fda approval if you dont do something, nope.
instead theyll just let kids switch to heroin.
id much rather give my money to mexican/south american drug cartels than pharmaceutical companies. The mexican cartels arent as evil as pharmaceutical companies are imo.
 
Last edited:
spacejunk said:
^ some governments subsidise pharmaceuticals to make them affordable for everyone - it's what happens here (Australia).
Something I'm happy tax revenue to be spent on - people need medicine whether they can afford it or not.
Click to expand...
sorry to doublepost
but what i think hes saying is, irs terrible what these drugs cost the government, because im sure very few HIV patients can afford to buy their own drugs without government subsidies, and so most patients reciebe drugs that the government helped pay for, right.
but the government costs subsidizing hiv drugs are prob. A lot Higher than they shouls be, because the manufacturers charge heavily inflated prices because you NEED them.
 
Just goes to show we buy what the commercials tell us to, and what the doctor tells you to take.

Abilify is an anti-psychotic with an unknown mechanism of action. No way it should be #1.

Humira is a cancer-causing drug for autoimmune problems--pretty fucked up country that this is needed so much.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top