What do the statistics say about the drugs we buy? Here are the most prescribed ones in the year 2022, according to Federfarma
Data has a very fascinating way of talking about reality, and statistics can tell interesting stories. For example, what are the most purchased drugs and the most treated diseases in our country? What do the numbers say about our state of health and our pharmaceutical expenditure? Well, thanks to the latest report by Federfarma, the national federation of pharmacy owners, we can take a precise look at pharmaceutical spending in Italy in 2022.
The ranking of the most prescribed and best-selling drugs in 2022 – ilovetrading.it
Before we look at these stats, here’s some background. The Italian market for products sold in pharmacies in 2022 has reached a total of 25.84 billion euros, an increase of 4.5% compared to 2021: in general, we have all purchased many more drugs than the previous year.
What are the drugs most bought by Italians?
In particular, the ethical sector (i.e. prescription drugs), which accounts for 55.5% of pharmacy turnover, saw a 2.2% increase, reaching 14 billion euros. But it’s not just prescription drugs that have seen an increase: the sector is also growing commercial and that of self care with a 7.6% increase, reaching a turnover of 11.5 billion euros.
At the top of the ranking, drugs for cardiovascular health – Ilovetrading.it
Among the ten therapy groups with the highest spending in 2022, drugs for the cardiovascular system are in the first place, with a 1.2% increase in spending over the previous year. Followed by those for gastrointestinal tract and metabolism, those for the nervous system and in fourth place, drugs for respiratory system. The rest of the top ten includes general antimicrobials for systemic use, drugs for the blood and hematopoietic organs, those for the genitourinary system and sex hormones, drugs for the musculoskeletal system, antineoplastics and immunomodulators, and systemic hormonal preparations.
What drugs are the most prescribed?
Among the ten most prescribed specialties, the Cardioaspirina is the undisputed queen, followed by Eutirox (for thyroid control), KBase the diuretic Lasix, Bisoprololo Sandoz for heart failure and hypertension, the Norvasc for hypertension and finally Cardicor, Pantorc and Augmentin.
Now that we’ve taken a look at the most prescribed drugs and their applications, you may be wondering: how many of these drugs actually end up in Italian homes? Well, just under 569 million prescriptions were issued in 2022, with an average of 9.63 prescriptions per citizen. This translates into one billion and 57 million packages of medicines paid for by the National Health Service, an increase of 1% compared to 2021. On average, every Italian citizen collected 17.9 packs of medicines paid for by the NHS, with an average price of 9.33 euros.