Antipsychotics were the sixth best selling class of medications globally in 2007, according to IMS Health. They raked in a cool $20.7 billion, an increase of 10.7% from 2006. Thank God we are doing a better job of overrecognizing, er, appropriately treating bipolar disorder. Antidepressants were #7, at $19.7 billion, down nearly seven percent. This does not appear to be due to declining prescriptions. Blame generics, not decreased prescriptions for the lower numbers. With Cymbalta, Lilly has shown that new antidepressants don't have to be anything special, so it would behoove other companies to release other run of the mill antidepressants, attach a comical, er, highly educational marketing campaign such as Depression Hurts, then watch the money roll in. Just some free advice.
How about the top 10 drugs?
Three of them were antipsychotics. No, I'm not kidding. Most surprisingly, Zyprexa had the best figures worldwide, which was interesting given the flat U.S. sales in 2007.
Seroquel outsold Zyprexa in the U.S., but Zyprexa had a better run globally. Who knows what tricks are being used to sell Zyprexa internationally? Never mind, it's not like Lilly would do
anything sly to market Zyprexa.
The new era of antipsychotics for everything appears to be in full swing. 
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