Healthcare Insights
Top 10 antipsychotic prescriptions of 2022
Antipsychotics are a type of prescription drug that treat the symptom of psychosis. Psychosis is not a mental illness, but rather a collection of symptoms that affect a person’s ability to tell what is and is not real. These medications are a critical part of treating conditions that involve psychosis. Without treatment, many of these conditions are so severe that patients may require around-the-clock care within a psychiatric hospital.
Using intelligence from the Definitive Healthcare Atlas Prescription Claims dataset, we’ve ranked the top 10 antipsychotic prescriptions by percentage of overall prescriptions to patients with psychosis in 2022. The percentage of prescriptions is relative to all antipsychotic prescriptions within 2022.
Top 10 antipsychotic prescriptions by percentage of prescriptions for 2022
| Rank | Drug brand name | Drug generic name | % share of antipsychotic drugs dispensed in U.S. | % share of antipsychotic drug patients in U.S. | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quetiapine fumarate | quetiapine fumarate | 28% | 28% | Explore |
| 2 | Aripiprazole | aripiprazole | 21% | 23% | Explore |
| 3 | Risperidone | risperidone | 12% | 11% | Explore |
| 4 | Olanzapine | olanzapine | 10% | 10% | Explore |
| 5 | Latuda® | lurasidone HCl | 4% | 4% | Explore |
| 6 | Vraylar® | cariprazine HCl | 3% | 3% | Explore |
| 7 | Ziprasidone HCl | ziprasidone HCl | 3% | 2% | Explore |
| 8 | Haloperidol | haloperidol | 2% | 3% | Explore |
| 9 | Clozapine | clozapine | 2% | 1% | Explore |
| 10 | Quetiapine Fumarate ER | quetiapine fumarate | 2% | 2% | Explore |
Fig. 1 Data is from the Definitive Healthcare Atlas Prescription Claims product for calendar year 2022. Claims data is sourced from multiple claims clearinghouses in the United States and is updated monthly. Data accessed May 2023.
What are the most commonly prescribed antipsychotic medications?
The most prescribed antipsychotic medication is quetiapine fumarate, which constitutes 28% of prescriptions issued for antipsychotics, as well as 28% of the total patients prescribed antipsychotics. This medication is used to treat certain mental/mood conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and sudden episodes of mania or depression associated with bipolar disorder.
The second most prescribed antipsychotic medication is aripiprazole in its generic form. Also known as Abilify® and Aristada®, aripiprazole is used for the short-term treatment of agitation that occurs with mental/mood disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
What are the most common conditions or disorders that are treated with antipsychotics?
Of the prescriptions in our top 10 list, the majority are used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and sudden episodes of mania or depression associated with bipolar disorder.
According to Mayo Clinic:
“Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally. Schizophrenia may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior that impairs daily functioning and can be disabling. People with schizophrenia require lifelong treatment. Early treatment may help get symptoms under control before serious complications develop and may help improve the long-term outlook.”
Bipolar disorder was previously known as manic depression. It is a mental illness that causes extreme mood swings with emotional highs (mania or hypomania) and lows (depression). These mood swings can affect sleep, energy, activity, judgment, behavior, and the ability to think clearly.
What causes psychosis?
Certain illnesses can cause psychosis. However, each case of psychosis is different, and the exact cause isn’t always clear. Drug use, lack of sleep, environmental factors, or certain traumatic events can trigger psychosis.
According to the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH), a person will often show changes in their behavior before psychosis develops. Behavioral warning signs for psychosis include:
- a sudden drop in schoolwork or job performance
- trouble thinking clearly
- difficulty concentrating
- feeling paranoid or suspicious of others
- withdrawing from friends and loved ones
- an influx of strange, new feelings, or no feeling at all
- a disinterest in personal grooming
- difficulty separating reality from non-reality
- trouble communicating
A person experiencing psychosis may often have confusing and disrupted thoughts and/or experience delusions or hallucinations.
What kind of doctor treats patients experiencing psychosis?
Psychiatrists treat patients that suffer from psychosis, whether due to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or other serious mental illnesses. These physicians specialize in psychiatry and can help patients manage their conditions with a combination of medication and therapies. Antipsychotic medications are among the first lines of treatment for psychosis.
Learn more
Healthcare Insights are developed with healthcare commercial intelligence from the Definitive Healthcare platform. Want even more insights? Start a free trial now and get access to the latest healthcare commercial intelligence on hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare providers.
You might also be interested in...
