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

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

The change benefited just one drug on the market at the time: Exparel, made by Pacira.

From New York Times • Jun. 16, 2023

If approved, it would be the second anti-amyloid drug on the market.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 29, 2022

If authorized, sabizabulin, which Veru was originally testing as a treatment for prostate cancer, would become its second drug on the market.

From Reuters • Nov. 7, 2022

A commodity is a drug on the market at one dollar, until somebody is willing to pay a dollar and a half for it.

From Carmen Ariza by Stocking, Charles Francis