Cutting Your Drug Bill While Reducing Your Risk Of Avoidable Adverse Drug Reactions

Worst Pills, Best Pills Newsletter Articles
- : Six Examples
February 2005


This article will look at the potential savings for the individual consumer if the alternative treatments recommended in Worst Pills, Best Pills were used for six DO NOT USE drugs. All six are listed in the Drug Topics Magazine Top 200 selling drugs in U.S. in 2003. The drugs are: celecoxib (CELEBREX) used for arthritis and pain; the Alzheimer?s disease drug donepezil (ARICEPT); drospirenone with ethinyl estradiol (YASMIN 28), an oral contraceptive; esomeprazole (NEXIUM) the ?new purple pill? for heartburn; montelukast (SINGULAIR), a drug approved for both asthma and hay fever; and valdecoxib (BEXTRA), an arthritis drug very similar to celecoxib.The combined sales of these six DO NOT USE drugs was $8.1 billion with more that 75 million prescriptions dispensed in 2003.