Australia’s top 10 drugs

The latest issue of Australian Prescriber lists the top 10 drugs used in Australia and shows there is an emerging challenge of funding new and expensive drugs.

The lists show the top 10 drugs by daily dose, prescription counts and cost to government.

The most costly drug used in Australia is adalimumab (an immune-system-modifying medicine prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease). It cost taxpayers over $300 million in 2014–15.

This is the first time in 20 years that statins (for lowering cholesterol) have not topped the list of most costly drugs to government. Although atorvastatin dropped out of the top 10 by cost to government, it still topped the lists for daily dose and prescription counts.

Two injectable drugs to treat age-related macular degeneration appeared for the first time in the list of most costly drugs. Aflibercept cost nearly $193 million, while ranibizumab cost nearly $180 million.

Proton pump inhibitors (for reducing stomach acid production), ACE inhibitors (for high blood pressure and heart failure), and medicines for diabetes and blood pressure also appeared on the lists.

To view the full lists of top 10 drugs and other articles from the August issue of Australian Prescriber, visit nps.org.au/australianprescriber.

Table 1. Top 10 drugs by Doses per 1000 people per day

Table 2. Top 10 drugs by prescription count

Table 3. Top 10 drugs by cost to government