Atenolol
Brand names: Atenolol, Tenormin
At a glance
- Medicare prescriptions, 2024
- 5,763,506
- Medicare drug cost
- $44.8M
- Average cost per prescription
- $7.77
- Clinicians who prescribed it
- 145,427
Where it is prescribed
List the prescribers in any state, county, city or ZIP code →
What it is used for
Hypertension TENORMIN is indicated for the treatment of hypertension, to lower blood pressure. Lowering blood pressure lowers the risk of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events, primarily strokes and myocardial infarctions. These benefits have been seen in controlled trials of antihypertensive drugs from a wide variety of pharmacologic classes including atenolol. Control of high blood pressure should be part of comprehensive cardiovascular risk management, including, as appropriate, lipid control, diabetes management, antithrombotic therapy, smoking cessation, exercise, and limited sodium intake. Many patients will require more than 1 drug to achieve blood pressure goals. For specific advice on goals and management, see published guidelines, such as those of the National High Blood Pressure Education Program’s Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC). Numerous antihypertensive drugs, from a variety of pharmacologic classes and with different mechanisms of action, have been shown in randomized controlled trials to reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and it can be concluded that it is blood pressure reduction, and not some other pharmacologic property of the drugs, that is largely responsible for those benefits. The largest and most consistent cardiovascular outcome benefit has been a reduction in the…
From the FDA-approved prescribing information (label dated September 2025). Full labels on DailyMed (opens in a new tab)
Who prescribes it
- Family Medicine 34.7%
- Internal Medicine 30.9%
- Nurse Practitioners 13.6%
- Cardiology 7.5%
- Physician Assistants 4.9%
- Interventional Cardiology 2.0%
- General Practice 1.7%
- Geriatric Medicine 1.2%
- Nephrology (Kidney) 0.6%
- Cardiac Electrophysiology 0.5%
- Hospitalist 0.3%
- Endocrinology & Diabetes 0.3%
All prescribers, by place, name or specialty →
Share of Medicare prescriptions written by each specialty. Select one to list its prescribers.
Trend, 2019–2024
Medicare prescriptions fell 23% from 2019 to 2024.
Biggest change by state since 2019
- Idaho −12%
- Delaware −12%
- Maryland −15%
- Nevada −17%
- Texas −17%
- Mississippi (smallest change) −31%
- Colorado (smallest change) −30%
From CMS’s yearly state and national Part D summaries, which count every prescriber, including those CMS leaves out of its per-clinician data (fewer than 11 prescriptions). That is why these totals are higher than the count at the top of this page. Prescriptions include refills.
What it looks like
Pills from 5 makers on file. The same medicine can look different depending on who made it, so check the imprint (the letters and numbers on the pill) with your pharmacist if a refill looks different.
Bryant Ranch Prepack
| Strength | Looks like | Imprint |
|---|---|---|
| 25 mg | white round tablet, 6 mm | RE 19 |
Marlex Pharmaceuticals, Inc
| Strength | Looks like | Imprint |
|---|---|---|
| 25 mg / 50 mg atenolol | white round tablet, 8 mm, scored to split in 2 | N 390 |
| 100 mg / 25 mg chlorthalidone | white round tablet, 10 mm | N 391 |
Northstar Rx LLC.
| Strength | Looks like | Imprint |
|---|---|---|
| 50 mg / 25 mg chlorthalidone | white round tablet, 8 mm, scored to split in 2 | 11 67 |
| 100 mg / 25 mg chlorthalidone | white round tablet, 10 mm | 11 68 |
Pd-Rx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
| Strength | Looks like | Imprint |
|---|---|---|
| 50 mg | white round tablet, 8 mm, scored to split in 2 | Z 66 |
Upsher-Smith Laboratories, LLC
| Strength | Looks like | Imprint |
|---|---|---|
| 25 mg | white round tablet, 6 mm | T 107 |
| 50 mg | white round tablet, 7 mm, scored to split in 2 | TENORMIN 105 |
| 100 mg | white round tablet, 9 mm | TENORMIN 101 |
Source: DailyMed (U.S. National Library of Medicine), from each maker’s FDA drug listing. A few makers are shown, not every one. Never take a pill you can’t identify; ask a pharmacist.
Industry payments about this drug
No industry payments to clinicians named this drug in 2025.
Recalls and shortages
Not on the FDA drug shortage list.
No FDA-reported recalls since 2020.
Sources: CMS Medicare Part D Prescribers by Provider and Drug (2024; prescriptions include refills, and CMS hides counts under 11 per prescriber); U.S. Food and Drug Administration, openFDA (drug labels, NDC directory, enforcement reports, drug shortages); CMS Open Payments 2025; ClinicalTrials.gov. General information only, not medical advice; not yet reviewed by our medical reviewer.