The heartburn drug Nexium — whose advertisements have long been ubiquitous on television — was prescribed to 1.5 million Medicare patients in 2013, for a total cost of more than $2.5 billion, the largest amount spent on any drug prescribed through the government program, according to data released by Medicare officials on Thursday.

The data was the most detailed breakdown ever provided by government officials about the prescription claims of Medicare beneficiaries. It included information about 36 million patients, one million prescribers and $103 billion in spending on drugs under the program’s Part D in the year 2013, the most recent year available. The data did not take into account rebates that the drug manufacturers pay to the insurers that operate the Medicare beneficiaries’ drug plans.

Although the government has previously released similar data to outside entities — including ProPublica, the nonprofit news group — officials said they decided to make the information available on a public website to encourage experts to weigh in, potentially leading to new solutions for policy challenges, like how to contain costs.

“We know that there are many, many smart minds in this country,” Sean Cavanaugh, a deputy administrator at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in a conference call with reporters on Thursday. “We are excited to unleash those minds and see what they can find in our data.”

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Jeffrey R. Ungvary President