Last year, sales of prescription drugs in the US jumped 5.1% from last year largely due to an increased demand for cancer and depression drugs.

Eli Lilly saw higher sales for antidepressant medication Cymbalta and tumor fighting drugs like Roche Holding AG’s Avastin helped to raise the pharmaceutical industries revenue to $300.3 billion.

“In 2009, demand for pharmaceuticals proved stronger than in the prior two years, yet remained at historically low levels,” Murray Aitken, a senior vice president at IMS, said in the statement. “The greater availability of generic options, growing differentials in co-pays between brands and generics, and efforts by patients, insurers and employers to encourage appropriate use of lower-cost alternatives were all factors.”

Antipsychotics like Zyprexa and Abilify continue to be the top selling class of medications, selling $14.6 billion.

According to Business Week, “generic products now make up 75 percent of all prescriptions dispensed in the U.S., up from 57 percent in 2004, IMS said. Last year, the number of generic prescriptions dispensed rose 5.9 percent, while branded drugs fell 7.6 percent.”

Despite the recent attempt of the government to reign in the amount of antipsychotic medication that nursing homes received, recent studies have found that in 2008, antipsychotics still represented 9 percent of all prescriptions in this group.

According to an article on MSN Health,

Anti-psychotics, developed to treat psychiatric conditions such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, are widely used “off label” to control difficult behavior in elderly people with dementia.

Indeed, Dorsey said he suspects that the vast majority of the use documented in his research is “off label.”

In the United States, no anti-psychotics are approved to calm behavior, although one such drug, risperidone (Risperdal), is approved for that indication in Canada. Black box warnings are rare for off-label use.

This class of “atypical anti-psychotics” includes Risperdal, Abilify, Seroquel and Zyprexa.

The problem is that the only medications that have been shown to help sway these behavioral problems are antipsychotics, and even though the side effects may not affect some patients, some patients experience significant problems.

In 2005 the FDA had issued warnings and since there has been a noticeable drop in over prescribing.  The declines were evident within one month of the warning and  by 2008, antipsychotic use among this older population decreased more than 50 percent.

However, it’s not clear if that drop is enough, or if the drugs are still being over prescribed and over used for off label uses, leaving the elderly still at risk to experience unnecessary side affects.

Over all, the study found that “If you enter a nursing home that has a higher proportion of people on antipsychotics, you are also likely to be put on antipsychotics.” So be aware of this if you or a loved one is thinking of staying at a nursing home.