Ibuprofen

Drug Usage Statistics, United States, 2014 - 2023

Ibuprofen Summary for 2023

Top drug rank #32 ( 1)
Estimated number of prescriptions in the United States (2023) 17,525,800
Estimated number of patients in the United States (2023) 9,910,191
 
Average total drug cost (USD)  
Per prescription $13.85
Per day of therapy $0.95/day
Average out-of-pocket cost (USD)  
Per prescription $3.73
Per day of therapy $0.27/day

Total Prescriptions and Patients Per Year (2014 - 2023)

Rank of Top Drugs Over Time

"Rank" refers to the frequency that a given medication is prescribed within a calendar year compared to all other medications. A rank of "4" would indicate that the medication was the fourth most commonly prescribed medication.

Year Rank Change
2014 31  2
2015 31 0
2016 34  3
2017 27  7
2018 26  1
Year Rank Change
2019 29  3
2020 38  9
2021 36  2
2022 33  3
2023 32  1

Drug Cost Over Time (2014 - 2023)

  • Cost Per Prescription Fill: Average cost per filled prescription regardless of how many days of therapy the prescription is filled for (e.g. 10 days, 30 days, 90 days, etc.)
  • Cost per Day of Therapy: The average cost per prescription fill divided by the days of therapy. For example, a 10-day antibiotic course costing $30 would be $3 per day. Similarly, a 30-day supply of an oral antihypertensive costing $30 would be $1 per day.

  • Total cost: The average total cost of the medication including the out-of-pocket cost (see below) plus the amount paid by other parties (Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, Veterans Administration, TRICARE, other state/federal sources, Worker's compensation, and other miscellaneous sources)
  • Out-of-pocket cost: The average payment made by the patient which may include deductibles, coinsurance, copayments, or the cash price paid without insurance coverage.

Cost Per Prescription Fill (USD)

Cost Per Day of Therapy (USD/day)

Distribution of Dispensed Dosage Forms (2023)

Dosage Form Strength % of Dispensed Products
Tablet/capsule 800 mg 62.2%
Tablet/capsule 600 mg 28.2%
Other, unspecified, or misc. 9.6%

Distribution of Days Supplied (2023)

"Days supply" is defined as the number of days that a prescription should last. For example, a prescription of 60 tablets that is taken twice daily has a day supply of 30 days.

Related Drugs

Drug Name Total Prescriptions (2023)
Meloxicam 20,703,690
Ibuprofen (this drug) 17,525,800
Aspirin 14,095,182
Diclofenac 9,438,697
Naproxen 6,808,487
Celecoxib 6,190,144
Ketorolac 1,627,126
Nabumetone 869,464
Indomethacin 593,609
Etodolac 450,221
Sulindac 168,142
Oxaprozin 72,993
Diclofenac; Misoprostol 47,412
Aspirin; Citric Acid; Sodium Bicarbonate 10,494

Drug Synonyms

Drug synonyms are used during the sanitation and standardization process of "cleaning" the original data source (MEPS). Occassionally, brand names may be listed below that are no longer on the market or are very infrequently used.

Brand Name Synonyms
  • Aches-n-pain
  • Advil
  • Advil Liqui-gels
  • Advil Migraine Liqui-gels
  • Caldolor
  • Cap-profen
  • Children's Advil
  • Children's Advil-flavored
  • Children's Elixsure
  • Children's Ibuprofen
  • Children's Motrin
  • Ibu
  • Ibu-tab
  • Ibu-tab 200
  • Ibuprin
  • Ibuprohm
  • Infant's Advil
  • Junior Strength Advil
  • Junior Strength Ibuprofen
  • Junior Strength Motrin
  • Medipren
  • Midol
  • Midol Liquid Gels
  • Motrin
  • Motrin IB
  • Motrin Migraine Pain
  • Neoprofen
  • Nuprin
  • Pediatric Advil
  • Rufen
  • Tab-profen
Generic Drug Synonyms and Salts
  • Ibuprofen Lysine
  • Ibuprofen Sodium
  • Ibuprofen

FDA Approval Information

Established Pharmacologic Class (EPC): Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drug
Initial FDA approval date: Prior to January 1, 1982
First FDA applicant: Discn
First dosage form: Tablet (oral)

Prescription data source: Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) 2014-2023. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Rockville, MD. ClinCalc DrugStats Database version 2025.08. Read more about the ClinCalc DrugStats database.

All ClinCalc DrugStats figures and graphs on this page are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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