drug on the market

Idioms  

1. A commodity whose supply greatly exceeds the demand for it. For example, Now that asbestos is considered dangerous, asbestos tile is a drug on the market. The use of the noun drug in the sense of “something overabundant” (as opposed to a medicine or narcotic) dates from the mid-1600s, but the first record of the full expression, put as drug in the market, dates only from the 1830s.

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Example Sentences

True, retatrutide might soon be the most powerful “triple agonist” anti-obesity drug on the market.

From Slate • Jun. 23, 2026

Novartis and MMV are aiming to have the drug on the market in one to 1½ years.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 12, 2025

Biogen will be required to provide confirmatory evidence, from ongoing clinical research, to keep the drug on the market.

From New York Times • Apr. 25, 2023

They claimed, without much in the way of proof, that simply having the drug on the market harmed them by forcing them to deal with the fallout from those who do administer the medication.

From Washington Post • Apr. 13, 2023

Very few books of any size cost less than the equivalent of $100 in our time and illuminated books cost much higher than this, yet seem never to have been a drug on the market.

From The Thirteenth Greatest of Centuries by Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)