According to an article in Medscape, the cholesterol-lowering drug rosuvastatin (Crestor, AstraZeneca) narrowly beat out the hypothyroid drug levothyroxine (Synthroid, AbbVie) as the most prescribed drug in the United States, and the antipsychotic medication aripiprazole (Abilify, Otsuka Pharmaceutical) remains the best-selling drug, according to a recent report from research firm IMS.
Rosuvastatin reportedly had about 22.3 million prescriptions, followed by levothyroxine, at about 22.3 million prescriptions; proton pump inhibitor esomeprazole (Nexium, AstraZeneca), at about 17.8 million prescriptions; and the asthma medications albuterol (Ventolin HFA, GlaxoSmithKline), at about 17.8 million prescriptions, and fluticasone propionate/salmeterol (Advair Diskus, GlaxoSmithKline), at about 14.5 million prescriptions.
The remaining top 10 most prescribed drugs were the insulin glargine injection (Lantus Solostar, sanofi-aventis), the attention-deficit drug lisdexamfetamine dimesylate (Vyvanse, Shire), the antiepileptic drug pregabalin (Lyrica, Pfizer), the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease medication tiotropium bromide (Spiriva Handihaler, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals), and the antihypertensive drug valsartan (Diovan, Novartis). Read the full article
