They may be the most common drug in medicine cabinets across the country, but statins have been bumped from the top spot in the latest rankings of Australia's most costly drugs.
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The cholesterol-lowering drugs used to help prevent heart attacks and stroke were the most prescribed and dispensed pharmaceutical in Australia, PBS data revealed.
But the sheer volume of prescriptions for the relatively cheap medicine paled in comparison with the dizzying price tag of Adalimumab; an anti-inflammatory biologic used to treat autoimmune conditions including rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease.
The Australian government spent more than $311 million on just 176,062 Adalimumab (Humira) prescriptions between July 2014 and June 2015.
The statin Rosuvastatin dropped to second place, with more than $206 million in PBS funding covering over seven million prescriptions, according to the top 10 rankings released by NPS Medicinewise on Monday.
It's the first time in 20 years that a statin did not top the "most costly" drug list, which has traditionally showcased Australia's most commonly prescribed drugs.
But the latest rankings were dominated by medicines comparably rarer conditions with heftier price tags, including treatments for autoimmune conditions, macular degeneration and multiple sclerosis.
"The most expensive drugs to the government are no longer the most frequently prescribed," said Dr John Dowden, medical editor of Australian Prescriber, which published the results.
It's a trend that is likely to continue as older more common drugs go off patent and prices drop, Dr Dowden said.
"Conversely there are many more new, exciting medicines coming through that will be more expensive," he said.
Statins took out first and second place in a separate top 10 list of most common medicines in terms of standard daily doses per 1000 population, the best indicator of prescription drug use in the community.
For every 1000 Australians, roughly 55 people took standard daily doses of Atorvastatin and some 36 people did the same for Rosuvastatin over the 2014-2015 reporting period.
Paracetamol was the third most common drug, with roughly 34 people taking a standard daily dose per 1000 Australians.
The top 10 "most common" rankings were rounded out by blood pressure lowering drugs, hypertension treatments and Esomeprazole, used to reduce stomach acid in patients with dyspepsia, peptic ulcer, and gastroesophageal reflux disease.
Drugs for treating diabetes and asthma were also commonly prescribed.
