It’s not an allergy medicine or painkiller. Neither Viagra nor heartburn fighters hold the top spot.
The top seller is the anti-psychotic, Abilify. Made of aripiprazole, WebMD writes the drug is indicated to treat certain mental/mood disorders such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and irritability associated with autistic disorder.
Recently, Abilify has also been found to help patients with depression.
PLOS medicine reports nearly $7 billion was spent on the drug from April 2013 to March 2014. That total is more than the combined sales of all other anti-depressants combined. While Reuters reports Abilify has been proven to improve "quality of life" for schizophrenics, the "mechanism is unknown."
The Daily Beast writes Abilify "is extremely powerful medicine, being prescribed at an astonishingly high rate."
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