Prilosec Becomes First $5 Billion Prescription Medication

Pfizer's Viagra maybe the drug the world is talking about but it has a long ways to go before it surpasses the success of ulcer and heartburn drug, Prilosec. Last year Prilosec, the world's top selling drug since 1996, became the pharmaceutical industry's first $5 billion prescription medication. In contrast, Viagra's 1998 sales totaled a paltry $788 million. To be fair to the impotence drug, Prilosec's potential market is far larger—more than 21 million people experience heartburn in the United States alone.

Zocor, a cholesterol drug from Merck, with worldwide sales of $3.95 billion last year finished second behind Prilosec. In third place was Prozac, the antidepressant sold by Eli Lilly and Co., which had $2.81 billion in worldwide sales. In all, 25 drugs reached "blockbuster" status by netting $1 billion or more in 1998.

Astra officials claim a new direct-to-consumer advertising campaign and a larger sales force helped boost sales of Prilosec, which is known as Losec outside the United States. The company has also convinced doctors to use Prilosec on a variety of gastrointestinal disorders in addition to ulcers.

Analysts say Prilosec's days as the world's top-selling medication are numbered however. The drug loses its U.S. patent in 2001, paving the way for a rival company to make a cheaper, generic form. In addition, Abbott Laboratories has a rival drug already on the market called Prevacid, and American Home Products has Protonix awaiting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.