The Most Prescribed Drugs In Australia Have Been Revealed

Millions of prescriptions


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The most commonly prescribed medicines in Australia across the last 12 months were cholesterol-lowering drugs, according to latest figures.

Published in the journal Australian Prescriber, the NPS MedicineWise program found the statin Atorvastatin was the most dispensed with 10.3 million prescriptions, followed by Rosuvastatin, which was prescribed 10.2 million times.

According to the West Australian, the data was based on Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme prescriptions but also included unsubsidised drugs for the first time.

Other prescribed drugs that made the top 10 list were medications designed to treat, reflux, peptic ulcers and type 2 diabetes.

Top 10 drugs by prescription counts

  1. Atorvastatin (Sold as Lipitor, 10,354080 prescriptions)
  2. Rosuvastatin (Sold as Crestor, 10,239,733 prescriptions)
  3. Esomeprazole (Sold as Nexium, 9,284,540 prescriptions)
  4. Pantoprazole (Sold as Protonix, 6,737,757 prescriptions)
  5. Perindopril (6,184,545 prescriptions)
  6. Cephalexin (Sold as Keflex, 5,473,562 prescriptions)
  7. Amoxicillin (5,445, 791 prescriptions)
  8. Metformin (Sold as Glucophage, 4,941,822 prescriptions)
  9. Amoxicillin and Clavulanic acid (4,908,573 prescriptions)
  10. Irbesartan (4,076,242 prescriptions)
Triple M Newsroom

5 December 2017

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Triple M Newsroom




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