American patients spent $307 billion on prescription drugs in 2010, up 2.4% from the past year according to IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics.
AstraZeneca's Crestor posted the biggest increase with $770 million in new sales.
Name brand medicine, however, have been losing out to generics. Generics now make up 78% of total prescriptions, up from 63% just four years ago.
Spending on Pfizer's Lipitor, America's highest-grossing drug, has dropped in each of the past five years. With a patent expiring in 2011 it will compete with new generics entering the market.
Seroquel, another top seller, will lose patent protection in 2012.
The 15 Highest Grossing Prescription Drugs In America | ||||||
Drug | Gross | 5 Year Growth | ||||
1 | Lipitor | $7.2 billion | -16 percent | |||
2 | Nexium | $6.1 billion | 23.5 percent | |||
3 | Plavix | $6.1 billion | 110.3 percent | |||
4 | Advair Diskus | $4.7 billion | 20.5 percent | |||
5 | Abilify | $4.6 billion | 142.1 percent | |||
6 | Seroquel | $4.4 billion | 46.7 percent | |||
7 | Singulair | $4.1 billion | 36.7 percent | |||
8 | Crestor | $3.8 billion | 192.3 percent | |||
9 | Actos | $3.5 billion | 34.6 percent | |||
10 | Epogen | $3.3 billion | 3.1 percent | |||
11 | Remicade | $3.3 billion | 32 percent | |||
12 | Enbrel | $3.3 billion | 6.5 percent | |||
13 | Cymbalta | $3.2 billion | 166.7 percent | |||
14 | Avastin | $3.1 billion | 82.4 percent | |||
15 | Oxycontin | $3.0 billion | 287.5 percent | |||
Data: Business Insider |
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