Nexium, Advair led Medicare drug spending in 2013 - officials
30/04/2015 20:52
By Sharon Begley
NEW YORK, April 30 (Reuters) - Four brand-named drugs
prescribed to older or disabled Americans covered by Medicare's
drug benefit accounted for almost one-tenth of the $103 billion
in prescriptions filled under the plan in 2013, U.S. officials
reported on Thursday.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said
AstraZeneca Plc's AZN.L Nexium for acid reflux topped the list
with prescriptions totaling $2.5 billion, followed by $2.3
billion of GlaxoSmithKline Kline Plc's GSK.L Advair for asthma.
Third was AstraZeneca's cholesterol-lowering Crestor with
$2.2 billion worth of prescriptions, while Otsuka Corp's
4768.T anti-psychotic Abilify was fourth with $2.1 billion.
The data cover prescriptions filled under Medicare's
prescription-drug benefit, called Part D, and is the first time
it has been released publicly.
Medicare Part D went into effect as part of the
government-run health insurance program for disabled Americans
and those 65 and over in 2006. In 2013, 35.7 million
beneficiaries were enrolled in Part D, or 68 percent of all
Medicare patients.
The data include the total number of prescriptions that were
filled, total days supply for these prescriptions, and their
total cost. They also include prescription information for about
1 million healthcare providers.
Although the top 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, a
cardiovascular drug that 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, administration officials touted what
they called another effort at "transparency," and said they
hoped that as researchers and others dug into the data,
important patterns might emerge.
"We know 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."
(Reporting by Sharon Begley; Editing by Alan Crosby)
((Sharon.Begley@thomsonreuters.com; 646-223-4876; Reuters
Messaging: sharon.begley.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: USA HEALTHCARE/MEDICARE