Colchicine has entered the top 10 list of most prescribed drugs for the first time, a report from the PBS shows.
The gout drug slipped in at number 10 on the list which ranks drugs by the amount of doses dispensed in 2015.
Top 10 drugs by defined daily dose/thousand population/day in 2015
- ATORVASTATIN
- PERINDOPRIL
- ROSUVASTATIN
- AMLODIPINE
- PARACETAMOL
- IRBESARTAN
- CANDESARTAN
- RAMIPRIL
- TELMISARTAN
- COLCHICINE
The biologic adalimumab (Humira) also knocked esomeprazole of its spot as the most expensive drug for the PBS, costing $330 million (an average of around $1780 for each of the 185,000 prescriptions).
And etanercept fell two places since 2014, coming in as the 7th most expensive drug on the PBS at a cost of $169 million.*
Top 10 PBS/RPBS drugs by total cost to Australia in 2015
- ADALIMUMAB
- ESOMEPRAZOLE
- RANIBIZUMAB
- AFLIBERCEPT
- SALMETEROL and FLUTICASONE
- ROSUVASTATIN
- ETANERCEPT
- PREGABALIN
- INSULIN GLARGINE
- RITUXIMAB
*figures have been rounded up.
You can access the full report here.