The world’s drug needs evolves regularly and drugs advice sadly tends to lag behind but with more and more new drugs being developed and the world’s growing obesity problems increase more and more weight related drugs are starting to dominate the top selling drugs worldwide. As with most things the US leads the field and this site concentrates on many of these leading prescription drugs. We also have many page devoted to nonprescription and illegal drugs.
According to the 2010 report from the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics just over three quarters of the 4 billion US prescriptions were for generic drugs.
The 10 most-prescribed drugs in the U.S. are:
- Hydrocodone (combined with acetaminophen) — 131.2 million prescriptions
- Generic Zocor (simvastatin), a cholesterol-lowering statin drug — 94.1 million prescriptions
- Lisinopril (brand names include Prinivil and Zestril), a blood pressure drug — 87.4 million prescriptions
- Generic Synthroid (levothyroxine sodium), synthetic thyroid hormone — 70.5 million prescriptions
- Generic Norvasc (amlodipine besylate), an angina/blood pressure drug — 57.2 million prescriptions
- Generic Prilosec (omeprazole), an antacid drug — 53.4 million prescriptions (does not include over-the-counter sales)
- Azithromycin (brand names include Z-Pak and Zithromax), an antibiotic — 52.6 million prescriptions
- Amoxicillin (various brand names), an antibiotic — 52.3 million prescriptions
- Generic Glucophage (metformin), a diabetes drug — 48.3 million prescriptions
- Hydrochlorothiazide (various brand names), a water pill used to lower blood pressure — 47.8 million prescriptions.
However it wont come as a major surprise that these popular drugs are not the ones bringing in the major bucks for pharmaceutical companies as the generic drugs above are no longer protected and available to all to produce. This effect ensures that the prices the companies charge are low . Of course the patients for the new drugs ensure that the suplier controls the price and thus this is where the large companies make their vast profits out of the $300 billion plus that US customers spend on prescription drugs.
The 10 Best-Selling Drugs
The 2010 report went on to say that the 10 drugs on which we spent the most were:
- Lipitor, a cholesterol-lowering statin drug — $7.2 billion
- Nexium, an antacid drug — $6.3 billion
- Plavix, a blood thinner — $6.1 billion
- Advair Diskus, an asthma inhaler — $4.7 billion
- Abilify, an antipsychotic drug — $4.6 billion
- Seroquel, an antipsychotic drug — $4.4 billion
- Singulair, an oral asthma drug — $4.1 billion
- Crestor, a cholesterol-lowering statin drug — $3.8 billion
- Actos, a diabetes drug — $3.5 billion
- Epogen, an inject-able anemia drug — $3.3 billion
But what do these drugs do? What are the effects and side effects of taking these products? We lift the lid of these drugs and offer advice on taking them and look at other options. Please feel free to contact us by email at info@drugs-advice.com should you have any questions or wish to contribute to this site or contact us on twitter @drugsadvice
