If you want to make a lot of money, invent a drug that treats chronic conditions without ridding patients of symptoms entirely. Your customers will be on the hook for your product for the rest of their lives, boosting your bottom line all the while.

A Village Voice blog post lists the five highest revenue-generating drugs, noting that the one thing they have in common is that none cure illnesses:

Making the list are cholesterol-lowering Lipitor ($7.5 billion gross revenue in 2009), stomach acid-neutralizing Nexium ($6.3 billion), blood-thinning Plavix ($5.6 billion), asthma-soothing Advair Diskus ($4.7 billion) and anti-psychotic Seroquel ($4.2 billion).

If you pop any of these deliciously profitable pills, how are they working out for you?

The 5 Most Profitable Drugs: They Never Cure You [Village Voice]
(Thanks, Chester!)

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