The report also noted that the use of the cholesterol-lowerers increased 156% between 2000 and 2005. According to the data released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the number of people purchasing the statins rose from 15.8 million in 2000 to 29.7 million in 2005.
While the individual expenditure on the cholesterol lowering treatments was $484 in 2000, it gradually climbed to $661 by 2005. According to the AHRQ report, the number of outpatient prescriptions for statins also rose from about 90 million in 2000 to nearly 174 million in 2005.
Although the sales of top-selling drug Lipitor have dropped by seven percent in the first quarter of 2008, it is believed that the demand for statins will continue to rise with the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence’s recommendation of statins to people who display clinical evidence of cardiovascular disease.