Top 10 FDA Drug Classes by PlainMeds Reference Coverage
PlainMeds ranks the FDA-recognized drug classes carrying the highest number of distinct drug entries in the PlainMeds reference catalogue, based on the drug_class column populated from openFDA data.
Research period:
The drug class with the most PlainMeds reference coverage is Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug (NSAID), with 14 distinct medications.
PlainMeds ranks the FDA-recognized therapeutic drug classes carrying the most distinct medication entries in its reference catalogue, based on the drug_class field from openFDA labeling data. Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug (NSAID) leads with 14 drugs. Coverage reflects how many medications PlainMeds tracks in each class, not the total size of that class in clinical use.
Research question
Across the PlainMeds drug catalogue of 682 distinct generic medications, which FDA-recognized therapeutic classes carry the deepest representation, and how does class breadth correlate with prescribing prevalence in modern US clinical practice?
Methodology
This ranking reflects the data currently in our database, sourced from the agency referenced in the citation below and updated automatically as new filings are processed.
Coverage and exclusions: the source agency occasionally suppresses values for confidentiality, small sample size, or quality control, and suppressed rows are excluded from this ranking rather than shown as zero. If the agency later revises a figure, the revised value replaces the old one automatically the next time our data is refreshed.
Data provenance: we pull each release as it becomes available and normalize it into our database; a later release simply supersedes the one before it, so readers never see a mix of old and new figures on the same page.
Comparability across years: when the source agency revises its release schedule, definitions, or coverage, we note the affected years on the methodology page so readers can compare like-with-like rather than across a changed measurement.
Editorial governance: a named editor reviews every ranking page before publication (see the byline above). If an entity disputes a figure attributed to it, corrections are checked against the official source record before any change is made.
Every number on this page can be traced back to its source by following the entity links and the citation below, so independent verification never requires anything beyond the original public source.
See the methodology page for the complete ETL pipeline, source vintage, and column lineage.
Top 10 FDA Drug Classes by PlainMeds Reference Coverage
Live data: reflects the current dataset
The ranked top 10
Every row below reflects the current 10-record dataset. Reload the page after new data is processed to see the latest values.
| # | Drug class | Distinct drugs |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug (NSAID) | 14 |
| 2 | Atypical Antipsychotic | 12 |
| 3 | ACE Inhibitor | 9 |
| 4 | Angiotensin II Receptor Blocker (ARB) | 8 |
| 5 | Anticonvulsant | 8 |
| 6 | Calcium Channel Blocker | 8 |
| 7 | Corticosteroid | 8 |
| 8 | HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitor (Statin) | 7 |
| 9 | Opioid Analgesic | 7 |
| 10 | Tricyclic Antidepressant (TCA) | 7 |
Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, openFDA Drug Endpoint, Structured Product Labels. Values reflect the current dataset, refreshed as new filings are processed. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, openFDA Drug Endpoint, Structured Product Labels. Values reflect the current dataset, refreshed as new filings are processed.
Findings
Top entity in the ranking
The top-ranked record in this dataset is Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug (NSAID), with a value of 14 on the Distinct drugs column. The full top-10 set is rendered in the table above. Every value comes directly from the current dataset; no number is hardcoded into this page. When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration publishes a revision, the ranking and the prose around it update automatically.
Distribution shape
The gap between the top-ranked record (14) and the 10th-ranked record (7) characterizes how concentrated the top of the distribution is. Where the top value is many multiples of the median value of the visible set, the population is highly concentrated, a small number of entities accumulate the bulk of the measured quantity. Where the top and bottom of the visible set are close together, the distribution is relatively flat across the top end. The full distribution beyond this top-10 cut is summarized in the aggregate context section below and explored in the linked entity profiles.
Aggregate context
Across the full population behind this ranking, here are the summary statistics: how many records exist in total, the sum of the ranking metric across all qualifying records, and the mean per-record value. The methodology page documents the exact filter applied (records with null or zero values on the ranking metric are excluded). This aggregate row is computed from the same dataset that powers the ranking above.
Source provenance
The records in this ranking originate from U.S. Food and Drug Administration, specifically the openFDA Drug Endpoint, Structured Product Labels. PlainMeds ingests the source vintage published by the agency and keeps this page current, there is no static export carrying stale numbers, and a newly published dataset is reflected here within hours. The methodology page documents the source URL, the vintage date, and the steps applied to prepare the data.
Why this ranking matters
Rankings like this one let a reader scan a population quickly and identify outliers, concentrations, and patterns that warrant deeper investigation. The detail pages linked from each entity in the table above give the full per-entity context: time-series history where available, related metrics from adjacent tables, and links onward to the underlying source records. The methodology page explains how an entity earns inclusion in the dataset and how the ranking column is computed at the source.
What this analysis cannot tell us
The PlainMeds drug catalogue focuses on commonly-prescribed and clinically-relevant medications in the US; it is not exhaustive of every drug ever approved by the FDA. Drug class assignment uses the FDA-recognized class names from openFDA Structured Product Labels (SPL); a single chemical entity may belong to multiple classes when used for different indications, and PlainMeds assigns the primary class for catalogue display. Class counts measure catalogue breadth rather than prescribing volume, a class with few entries may still dominate prescriptions if its members are widely prescribed (such as statins). The catalogue is curated rather than auto-generated, so newly-approved drugs may take a release cycle to appear; the methodology page documents the catalogue inclusion criteria and the curation cadence.
Secondary cut from the same source
Top 10 drug classes among over-the-counter medications in the PlainMeds reference
Sources
- openFDA, Drug Endpoint - https://open.fda.gov/apis/drug/
- FDA, Structured Product Labeling (SPL) - https://www.fda.gov/industry/structured-product-labeling-resources