The Top 20 Most Popular Drugs In The U.S.

The pharmaceutical drug industry has seen a huge decline in popularity of branded medicines in the past year — 2010 being the first year ever when all of the ten most popular medicines in the U.S. were cheap generics.


Soon, generic versions of seven of the world’s 20 best-selling drugs will be available, hinting that the use of generics will continue to be widespread.

According to data provider IMS Health, these are the most prescribed drugs.

Prescriptions in millions. Branded drugs are in bold:

	2010	1-year growth (%)	5-year growth (%)
	Drug (brand name) use	3995.2	1.16%	7.79%
1	hydrocodone/acetaminophen (Vicodin) pain	131.2	2.34%	16.73%
2	simvastatin (Zocor) high cholesterol	94.1	12.29%	553.47%
3	lisinopril high blood pressure	87.4	5.56%	34.05%
4	levothyroxine sodium (Synthroid) hypothyroid	70.5	6.82%	41.57%
5	amlodipine besylate (Norvasc) high blood pressure.	57.2	11.50%	NA
6	omeprazole (Prilosec) acid reflux	53.4	17.62%	196.67%
7	azithromycin (Zithromax) antibiotic	52.6	-2.23%	44.11%
8	amoxicillin antibiotic	52.3	-0.19%	-4.39%
9	metformin HCL (Glucophage) diabetes	48.3	9.03%	25.78%
10	hydrochlorothiazide high blood pressure	47.8	-0.21%	-0.42%
11	alprazolam (Xanax) anxiety	46.3	5.47%	23.14%
12	Lipitor (atorvastatin) high cholesterol	45.3	-12.38%	-38.78%
13	furosemide high blood pressure	43.4	-0.23%	-2.03%
14	metoprolol tartrate (Lopressor) high blood pressure	38.9	-5.35%	33.22%
15	zolpidem tartrate (Ambien) insomnia	38	8.26%	NA
16	atenolol high blood pressure	36.3	-7.63%	-21.26%
17	sertraline HCL (Zoloft) depression	35.7	4.39%	230.56%
18	metoprolol succinate (Toprol) blood pressure	33	22.68%	5400.00%
19	citalopram (Celexa) depression	32.1	18.45%	129.29%
20	warfarin sodium (Coumadin) blood thinner	32	1.27%	19.85%

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