[UPDATED at 8:15 p.m. ET on March 23]
Americans fill about 4.5 billion prescriptions every year, at a value of greater than $323 billion. But what are we really shopping for? In 10 states, the highest prescriptions are opioid ache capsules which might be mixtures of acetaminophen and hydrocodone (model names Vicodin and Norco), based on new data from GoodRx, a web based prescription value service.
The firm seemed on the prime 10 medication prescribed in every state from March 2017 to February 2018 after which introduced the info as a map.
“There’s a geography to medications,” stated Thomas Goetz, chief of analysis at GoodRx. “Our goal is to start bringing more transparency to drugs and drug pricing information.”
In greater than half of states, Synthroid and its generics — to deal with hypothyroidism — got here in at No. 1. About 123 million prescriptions for the drug had been written in 2016. And regardless of recent controversy questioning its effectiveness within the aged, greater than 15 percent of older adults are prescribed the drug.
Though opioid prescriptions look like on the decline, Vicodin and Norco stay fashionable, particularly within the South. In Tennessee, nevertheless, Suboxone, a medicine used to deal with opioid habit, is much more fashionable. Oddly, Adderall and generic variations of the medication for consideration deficit and hyperactivity dysfunction are probably the most pharmaceuticals in South Carolina.
Drugs to deal with hypertension and ldl cholesterol had been additionally extensively prescribed.
Geoffrey Joyce, director of well being coverage on the Schaeffer Center on the University of Southern California, warns that the info represented within the map might give a deceptive image of prescription drug patterns. It appears at particular person drug merchandise as a substitute of bigger lessons of medication used to deal with a given medical concern. Overall, when comparable forms of medication are grouped collectively the most typical prescriptions are for medication to deal with hypertension, ache and psychological well being points, based on current knowledge from IQVIA, a well being knowledge firm.
GoodRx affords reductions on prescribed drugs and offers a web based software that enables customers to check what a drug will value at native pharmacies. Its state-by-state knowledge come from a number of sources, together with pharmacies and insurers, and replicate thousands and thousands of prescriptions.