Magnesium Salts

Drug Usage Statistics, United States, 2014 - 2024

Magnesium Salts Summary for 2024

Top drug rank	#171 ( 3)
Estimated number of prescriptions in the United States (2024)	3,265,004
Estimated number of patients in the United States (2024)	979,351

Average total drug cost (USD)
Per prescription	$15.48
Per day of therapy	$0.23/day
Average out-of-pocket cost (USD)
Per prescription	$7.53
Per day of therapy	$0.10/day

Total Prescriptions and Patients Per Year (2014 - 2024)

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	188	43
2015	179	9
2016	171	8
2017	162	9
2018	242	80
2019	215	27

Year	Rank	Change
2020	202	13
2021	211	9
2022	207	4
2023	174	33
2024	171	3

Drug Cost Over Time (2014 - 2024)

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 (2024)

Dosage Form	Strength	% of Dispensed Products
Tablet/capsule	400 mg	83.9%
Tablet/capsule	420 mg	6.0%
Tablet/capsule	250 mg	5.2%
Other, unspecified, or misc.		4.9%

Distribution of Days Supplied (2024)

"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 (2024)
Magnesium Salts (this drug)	3,265,005
Polyethylene Glycol 3350	2,397,385
Sodium Salts	1,424,676
Polyethylene Glycol 3350 With Electrolytes	993,989
Lactulose	500,694
Magnesium	393,303
Potassium	162,127
Sodium Phosphate, Dibasic, Anhydrous; Sodium Phosphate, Monobasic, Monohydrate	12,003

Therapeutic Classes

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

365 Whole Foods Market Epsom Salt
Back Pain Relief
Careone Milk OF Magnesia Cherry
Careone Milk OF Magnesia Original
Childrens Oral Saline Laxative
Citroma
Colace Fast-acting Saline Laxative
Cvs Health Childrens
Cvs Magnesium Hydroxide Laxative Chew
Doans
Dulcolax
Dulcolax Chewy Bites Assorted Fruits
Dulcolax Chewy Fruit Bites Cherry Berry
Dulcolax Soft Chews Mixed Berry
Dulcolax Soft Chews Watermelon
Epsom Salt
Epsom Salts
Equate Gentle Laxative Soft Chew
Equate Kids Gentle Laxative SC
Ez2go Magnesium Citrate Saline Laxative Lemon Flavor
Gentle Laxative
Humco Dewees Carminative
Humco Epson Salt
Humco Milk OF Magnesia
Isolyte S IN Plastic Container
Mag 440
Magnesium Citrate Saline Laxative - Cherry Flavor
Magnesium Citrate Saline Laxative - Grape Flavor
Magnesium Citrate Saline Laxative - Lemon Flavor
Magnesium Sulfate IN 5% Dextrose
Magnesium Sulfate IN Dextrose
Magnesium Sulfate IN Water
Maximum Strength Backache Relief
Medique AT Home Back Pain Relief
Medique Back Pain Relief
Meijer Magnesium Hydroxide Laxative Soft Chew
Milk OF Magnesia
Milk OF Magnesia Cherry
Milk OF Magnesia Concentrate
Milk OF Magnesia Mint
Milk OF Magnesia Original
Mirafast Kids Soft Chews
Mirafast Soft Chews
Multiple Electrolytes Injection Type 1 Usp PH 5.5
Multiple Electrolytes Injection Type 1 Usp PH 7.4
Natural Epsom Salt
Normosol-r IN Plastic Container
Nuvalu Epsom Salt
Onelax
Pedia-lax
Percogesic
Physiolyte IN Plastic Container
Physiosol IN Plastic Container
Physiosol PH 7.4 IN Plastic Container
Plasma-lyte 148 IN Water IN Plastic Container
Plasma-lyte A IN Plastic Container
Premier Value Milk OF Magnesia
Rapidol Sal Inglesa
Royal Epsom Salt
Sal Inglesa
Synovalyte IN Plastic Container
Walgreens Blueberry Raspberry Gentle Laxative
Walgreens Childrens
Walgreens Smoothlax Soft Chews

Generic Drug Synonyms and Salts

Magnesium Acetate
Magnesium Aspartate
Magnesium Carbonate
Magnesium Cation
Magnesium Chlorate
Magnesium Chloride
Magnesium Chloride; Potassium Chloride; Sodium Acetate Anhydrous; Sodium Chloride; Sodium Gluconate
Magnesium Chloride; Potassium Chloride; Sodium Acetate; Sodium Chloride; Sodium Gluconate
Magnesium Chloride; Sodium Chloride; Sodium Bicarbonate; Potassium Chloride; Sodium Phosphate Dibasic Dihydrate
Magnesium Chloride; Sodium Chloride; Sodium Bicarbonate; Potassium Chloride; Sodium Phosphate, Dibasic, Dihydrate
Magnesium Citrate
Magnesium Citrate; Potassium Citrate
Magnesium Gluconate
Magnesium Glycinate
Magnesium Hydroxide
Magnesium Lactate
Magnesium Nitrate
Magnesium Oxide
Magnesium Salicylate
Magnesium Salts Other
Magnesium Silicate
Magnesium Stearate
Magnesium Sulfate
Magnesium Sulfate Heptahydrate
Magnesium Sulfate Other
Magnesium Sulfate, Unspecified
Magnesium Sulfate, Unspecified Form
Magnesium Sulfate; Potassium Chloride; Potassium Phosphate; Sodium Chloride; Sodium Phosphate
Magnesium Trisilicate
Magnesium With Mixed Electrolytes
Magnesium, Chelated
Magnesium;;;; Dibasic
Potassium Acetate; Sodium Chloride; Sodium Acetate; Magnesium Chloride; Calcium Chloride
Magnesium Salts

FDA Approval Information

Established Pharmacologic Class (EPC):	Calculi Dissolution Agent, Osmotic Laxative
Initial FDA approval date:	Prior to January 1, 1982
First FDA applicant:	Discn
First dosage form:	Solution (irrigation)

Prescription data source: Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) 2014-2024. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Rockville, MD. ClinCalc DrugStats Database version 2026.08. 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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Updated Apr 15, 2025

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