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ISSUE 1 FEBRUARY
Article

Top 10 drugs

These tables show the top 10 subsidised drugs in 2004-05. The tables do not include private prescriptions.

Table 1 Table 2
Top 10 drugs supplied by DDD/1000 pop/day * Top 10 drugs by prescription counts
Drug PBS/RPBS † Drug PBS/RPBS †
1. atorvastatin 98.173 1. atorvastatin 8,074,202
2. simvastatin 55.967 2. simvastatin 6,275,577
3. ramipril 33.741 3. paracetamol 4,772,865
4. diltiazem hydrochloride 30.097 4. omeprazole 4,411,857
5. omeprazole 20.628 5. irbesartan 3,370,315
6. irbesartan 20.169 6. atenolol 3,247,475
7. salbutamol 18.844 7. salbutamol 3,062,355
8. frusemide 18.775 8. esomeprazole 2,983,645
9. aspirin 18.162 9. irbesartan with hydrochlorothiazide 2,938,448
10. sertraline 17.604 10. ramipril 2,903,048
Table 3
Top 10 drugs by cost to Government
Drug Cost to Government DDD/1000/day

Prescriptions

($A) PBS/RPBS † PBS/RPBS †
1. atorvastatin 460,930,251 /images/1x1_transp.gif 98.173 /images/1x1_transp.gif 8,074,202 /images/1x1_transp.gif
2. simvastatin 369,659,052 55.967 6,275,577
3. omeprazole 177,075,832 20.628 4,411,857
4. fluticasone with salmeterol 165,690,424 – ‡ 2,764,969
5. clopidogrel 151,235,466 7.551 1,925,546
6. olanzapine 149,497,256 2.892 710,453
7. esomeprazole 143,233,727 11.465 2,983,645
8. pravastatin 119,587,717 13.983 2,102,171
9. alendronic acid 108,587,183 8.543 2,115,898
10. pantoprazole 104,291,272 10.971 2,586,383

*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.

†PBS Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, RPBS Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme

‡Combination drugs do not have a DDD allocated

Source: Drug Utilisation Sub-Committee (DUSC) Drug Utilisation Database, as at 10 Oct 2005. © Commonwealth of Australia