Saturday, June 21, 2008

What prescription drugs sell the most?

At a recent seminar it was very interesting to see what pharmaceuticals sell the most in 2008:
1. LIPITOR - Treats: High cholesterol - Pfizer - $8.4 billion
2. ZOCOR - Treats: High cholesterol - Merck - $4.4 billion
3. NEXIUM - Treats: Heartburn - AstraZeneca - $4.4 billion
4. PREVACID - Treats: Heartburn - Abbott&Takeda - $3.8 billion
5. ADVAIR DISKUS - Treats: Asthma - GlaxoSmithKline - $3.6 billion
6. PLAVIX-Treats:Heart disease-Bristol-Myers Squibb -$3.5 billion
7. ZOLOFT - Treats: Depression - Pfizer - $3.1 billion
8. EPOGEN - Treats: Anemia - Amgen - $3.0 billion
9. PROCRIT - Treats: Anemia - Johnson & Johnson - $3.0 billion
10. ARANESP - Treats: Anemia - Amgen - $2.8 billion

1) Lipitor- to lower cholesterol (in women, eating fish once per week had greater effect than lipitor.
2) Zocor- studies have shown that cholesterol lowering drugs increase your risk of dying by suicide, homicide and by violent accident 3x.
3) Nexium- people who develop stomach ulcers most often actually have decreased acid secretion.
4) Prevacid- Maybe NOT eating ones favorite food would stop the heartburn!
5) Advair diskus- perhaps we should clean up the air we breathe!
6) Plavix
7) Zoloft- perhaps if everyone took Zoloft and Prosac we wouldn’t worry anymore about global warming!
8) Epogen, procrit and aranesp- how could a country that eats so much be so anemic!?