While the pricing focus on pharmaceuticals has been on designer drugs that fight such diseases as hepatitis C and cancer, billions in new revenue has been flowing into Big Pharma pockets due to substantial increases in the price of garden variety pills.

Reuters examined five year pricing trends for prescription drugs that control cholesterol, asthma, arthritis, acid reflux, and other conditions not considered to be immediately life threatening.

The analysis found that, of the 10 most commonly prescribed drugs in the U.S., four experienced increases in excess of 100 percent. The others rose more than 50 percent. Reuters said that, while the price spikes for new drugs have gained national attention, the steady upward movement of the top 10 got less attention, but contributed much more to the overall prescription drug increase.

Overall, the sales of these 10 increased by 44 percent from 2011 to 2014, to $54 million. Meantime, Reuters said, prescriptions fell by 22 percent for the group during that time. Reuters got pricing data from Truven Health Analytics for the study.

Drug companies countered that Reuters didn’t take into account the average sales price of the drugs, which are often discounted from the prices Reuters used in the study.

Even with discounts taken into account, Reuters said pharmacy managers reported steep annual increases for the drugs being studied.

“The increases help explain federal data showing overall spending on drugs rose faster than doctor visits and hospitalization over the past five years,” Reuters said.

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Reuters finds eye-popping price hikes for &ldquo;common&rdquo; drugs

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Reuters finds eye-popping price hikes for “common” drugs