Since 2000, the Italian Medicines Agency (Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco, AIFA) has been operating a ‘National Observatory on the Use of Medicines’ (Osservatorio nazionale sull’impiego dei medicinali, OSMED). OSMED monitors and analyses pharmaceutical consumption, e.g. impact of policy measures and comparison to other countries, on a monthly basis. Additionally, yearly reports on pharmaceutical consumption and expenditure are published.

At regular intervals, AIFA runs information campaigns targeted at the general public, e.g. on rational use of antibiotics and promoting generics.

International non-proprietary name prescribing is indicative for doctors and generic substitution is allowed, but not obligatory, for pharmacists in Italy.

Italy has launched a project to trace all medicines brought on to the Italian market, Progetto Tracciabilità del Farmaco, which implied extensive preparatory work (legal framework, IT tools).

Acknowledgement

This article is published with permission of the Gesundheit Österreich GmbH (GÖG)/Austrian Health Institute.

We gratefully acknowledge the support from Dr Sabine Vogler of Gesundheit Österreich GmbH / Österreichisches Bundesinstitut für Gesundheitswesen (GÖG/ÖBIG – Austrian Health Institute) to GaBI Online.

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Reference

Vogler S, Schmickl B. Rational use of medicines in Europe. Gesundheit Österreich GmbH / Österreichisches Bundesinstitut für Gesundheitswesen (GÖG/ÖBIG). February 2010.