The impact of new drug introduction on drug expenditure in primary health care in Catalunya, Spain.
BACKGROUND
Introduction of new drugs is a dynamic process with a high impact on consumption and expenditure.


OBJECTIVE
To analyze the prescription of new drugs and the associated costs in public health care in Catalunya, Spain, in 2002. The analysis also attempts a perspective of consumption in relation to the grade of therapeutic innovation of the new drugs.


METHODS
Prescription data on all 86 new drugs licensed for use during 1998-2002 were analyzed, using the prescription item as unit and the cost.


RESULTS
Prescription for new drugs in 2002 represented 4% of overall items prescribed and 13% of the cost. The mean new drug item cost was 39, while that of overall drugs was 13. New drug item increase over the previous year was 18.6% compared with 5.2% of the overall drugs, and the proportional cost increased by 25.7% and 9.9%, respectively. Ten new drugs represented 55.1% of the expenditure of this group. Antiasthmatic drugs represented 20.7% of the expenditure on new drugs, angiotensin-receptor blockers represented 18.6%, antiaggregants 9.7%, and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs 6.9%. New drugs providing significant or modest therapeutic improvement represented 25.6% of overall new drug items and 32.3% of their cost.


CONCLUSIONS
New drugs have a mean cost growth rate greater than that of existing drugs, with only a quarter of them offering advantages over existing drugs. More detailed evaluations of new medications are warranted before they can be recommended for general use so that a better distribution of the limited resources available may be made when prescribing drugs that are newly available through prescription.
Zara
Corinne
C
Barcelona Healthcare Consortium, Catalan Health Service, Barcelona, Spain. czara@rsbcn.scs.es
Torralba
Miguel
M
Sotoca
José M
JM
Prat
Alba
A
Faixedas
María-Teresa
MT
Gilabert
Antoni
A
D017277:Drug Approval / Q000191:economics*; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000191:economics*; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000191:economics*; D005102:Health Expenditures; D006801:Humans; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013030:Spain