What
other prescription medications are the top sellers? Humira, Seretide, Remicade,
Plavix, Enbrel, Rituxan, Herceptin, Avastin, and Nexium round out the top 10.
Humira, a drug from AbbVie Inc., is used for the treatment of a variety of
conditions from arthritis and ulcerative colitis to plaque psoriasis and
Crohn’s disease.
Seretide, also known as Advair, is a top-selling asthma inhaler drug from GlaxoSmithKline; a bronchodilator also used to treat COPD.
Remicade, manufactured by Janssen Biotech (formerly Centocor Ortho Biotech) is similar
to Humira in that the drug is used to treat Crohn’s disease, plaque psoriasis,
ulcerative colitis, and rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis.
Plavix is a blood thinner brought to the
market by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi SA, and is designed for patients with coronary
artery disease and may help prevent heart attack, stroke, and other heart
conditions.
Most
people are familiar with most of these drugs, which have brought in billions in
sales since approval. For instance, Humira was approved in 2003 and through
2016 had $95.6 billion in sales. Plavix was introduced into the pharmaceutical
market in 1997, and has brought in sales of $82.3 billion.
While
Lipitor is still a huge seller for Pfizer, the majority of sales are in
overseas markets and China since the expiration of its patent in November of
2011.
Many
believe that while our new President has vowed to bring down prescription drug
prices, it won’t be an easy task, or one that’s tackled during his time in
office, considering other obstacles such as trade and tax reform, changes to
healthcare, and more.
