Top 10 drugs

These tables show the top 10 subsidised drugs for the year July 2010 – June 2011.

Table 1
Top 10 drugs supplied by DDD/1000 pop/day ^{*, †}
	Drug	PBS/RPBS ^‡
1.	atorvastatin	82.87
2.	irbesartan	33.02
3.	rosuvastatin	32.37
4.	perindopril	29.94
5.	paracetamol	26.88
6.	ramipril	26.16
7.	candesartan	25.25
8.	simvastatin	23.90
9.	esomeprazole	21.32
10.	amlodipine	19.92
DDDs in this table include use in combination products

Table 2
Top 10 drugs by prescription counts ^†
	Drug	PBS/RPBS ^‡
1.	atorvastatin	11 020 969
2.	esomeprazole	6 099 877
3.	rosuvastatin	5 975 902
4.	paracetamol	4 840 331
5.	simvastatin	4 245 616
6.	perindopril	3 995 257
7.	pantoprazole	3 549 374
8.	metformin hydrochloride	3 383 078
9.	irbesartan	3 098 162
10.	atenolol	3 070 515

Table 3
Top 10 drugs by cost to government^†
Drug		Cost to government	DDD/1000/day *	Prescriptions
		($A)	PBS/RPBS^‡	PBS/RPBS^‡
1.	atorvastatin	637 426 978	82.87	11 020 969
2.	rosuvastatin	334 168 383	32.37	5 975 902
3.	ranibizumab	310 399 773	– ¶	146 272
4.	esomeprazole	184 167 326	21.32	6 099 877
5.	clopidogrel	173 946 446	10.94	2 774 567
6.	salmeterol and fluticasone	173 934 061	– §	3 065 047
7.	adalimumab	173 892 033	0.33	97 834
8.	olanzapine	161 933 986	2.99	950 386
9.	simvastatin	139 642 087	23.90	4 245 616
10.	etanercept	122 729 015	0.24	69 742

*	The defined daily dose (DDD)/thousand population/day is a more useful measure of drug utilisation than prescription counts. It shows how many people, in every thousand Australians, are taking the standard dose of a drug every day.
†	Based on date of supply. Does not include private prescriptions or prescriptions under PBS co-payment.
‡	PBS Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, RPBS Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
¶	The World Health Organization has not allocated a DDD for this drug
§	This combination does not have a DDD allocated

Date published: 01 December 2011