The Most Expensive Brand Name Drugs in the U.S.

When compiling a list of the most expensive brand name drugs in the U.S., it is important to remember that they are all expensive, at least compared to almost any other country in the Western world. There exists widespread resentment in the U.S. against the high prices of prescription medications. This is the main reason why many are flocking to online Canadian pharmacies, where the very same drugs can be purchased for significantly less. What has also made this option so popular is that Canada applies just as stringent – and officially equivalent – quality checks the U.S. does. The whole process is also entirely legal.

What is a Brand Name Drug?

As is almost entirely obvious, a brand name is simply one drug that is sold under a particular brand. However, to really understand what these drugs are and why they are so expensive in the U.S., it is important to understand the difference between a brand name and a generic drug. And to do that, we need to look at the progress of a new drug from laboratory to the shelves or the stock room of your local pharmacy.

A brand name drug is one that has a valid patent attached to it, with this patent existing for purposes of preventing rival pharmaceutical companies from producing and selling the drug themselves. It is this mechanism that allows the price of certain drugs to remain high and which prevents other entities from undercutting the big pharmaceutical companies by producing the drug themselves and selling it for much cheaper.

When a new drug is first invented, the company that creates it will take out a patent and begin selling the drug under that name. It is interesting to note that, in countries with free universal healthcare – such as the United Kingdom – the state monopoly on these drugs means that they do not have brand names because there is no business competition for prescription medications. So in the UK,the brand name drug “Prozac”, for example, is distributed under its official drug name Fluoxetine.

Generic Drugs

In the U.S., brand name drugs are often compared with generic drugs. A generic drug is one that uses the same active ingredient as a brand name drug but does not otherwise have the same chemical composition (because selling that is the privilege of the company that owns the brand drug patent). Brand name or generic, it should however be noted that all drugs in the U.S. are subject to strict FDA regulation, just as the same drugs sold from online Canadian pharmacies are subject to equivalent HPFB regulation.

Most Expensive Brand Name Drugs in the U.S.

Compiling a list of these “main offenders”, as it were, can be especially useful if you are deciding on making use a of a Canadian pharmacy. It should come as no surprise that it is these drugs that are most often sought north of the border – they truly are prohibitively expensive south of it.

Here follows then a list of the ten most expensive brand name drugs in the U.S., in ascending order. The prices here are for a single month of whatever course length is recommended.

As you can no doubt tell, most of these drugs are way out of the reach of the average American patient. So, until things change, the popularity of the online Canadian pharmacies seems set only to increase.