Cholesterol, diabetes and weight loss drugs are America’s best sellers
Drugs that affect your metabolism are the top-selling prescription drugs, according to a new report by the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality. This category of medications includes popular drugs to lower cholesterol, control diabetes, and control weight gain.
These drugs accounted for $38 billion of the $208.1 billion spent on prescription medications in the United States — or 18.3 percent of total prescription expenses by adults.
The top-selling drug in the United States, by a wide margin, is the cholesterol medication Lipitor. Lipitor is used along with diet to help lower “bad” cholesterol (LDL) and raise “good” cholesterol (HDL) in the blood. It’s part of a group of medications known as “statins”. Lipitor works by reducing the amount of cholesterol made by the liver.
You can read a summary of the study here.
Tweet
