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 The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said
AstraZeneca Plc's Nexium "purple pill" for acid reflux topped the
list with prescriptions totaling $2.5 billion, followed by $2.3
billion for GlaxoSmithKline Plc's inhaled Advair for asthma.
Third was AstraZeneca's cholesterol-lowering Crestor with $2.2
billion of prescriptions, while Otsuka Corp's anti-psychotic Abilify
was fourth with $2.1 billion.
The data cover prescriptions filled under Medicare's drug program,
called Part D, and is the first time it has been released. The costs
include co-payments by patients as well as what Medicare paid, but
not manufacturer rebates.
Part D went into effect in 2006 as part of the government-run
insurance program for disabled Americans and those 65 and over. In
2013, 35.7 million beneficiaries (68 percent of all Medicare
patients) were enrolled in Part D, which is run by private health
insurers led by UnitedHealth Group Inc and Humana Inc.
The data include number of prescriptions filled, total days supply
for these prescriptions, and their total cost. They also include
prescription information for about 1 million healthcare providers.
Although the 10 most-prescribed drugs were all branded medications,
the top 10 by number of claims were all generics.
The most-prescribed Medicare drug was lisinopril, which treats
hypertension, with 36.9 million prescriptions. It was followed by
the cholesterol-lowering drug simvastin with 36.7 million and the
thyroid drug levothyroxine with 35.2 million.
In releasing the data, officials touted their efforts at
transparency, and said they hoped researchers would mine the data.
"There are many, many smart minds in this country," Sean Cavanaugh,
CMS deputy administrator, told reporters on Thursday, "and we want
to unleash them on this data."
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CMS's analysis found that, among specialties, family-practice
doctors had the lowest drug costs, at $56 per prescription.
Oncologists had the highest costs at $550 per prescription, followed
by neurologists at $252, reflecting the high prices of cancer and
neurology drugs.
A study next month in Neurology describes the "alarming rise" in the
cost of drugs for multiple sclerosis, for instance. Several now cost
$60,000 a year after price rises of 20 to 30 percent per year from
1993 to 2013, something pharmacy professor and study author Daniel
Hartung of Oregon State University called "inexplicable."
(This version of the story has been renewed throughout and adds more
prescribing data and details of neurology drug price rise)
(Reporting by Sharon Begley; Editing by Alan Crosby and David
Gregorio)
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