Research published on 27 November 2014 by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) examined the extent and causes of variations in international medicines use. The report entitled ‘International Comparison of Medicines Usage: Quantitative Analysis’ was compiled by the Office of Health Economics (OHE) for the ABPI.

The report analysed sales data collected from IMS Midas from 13 countries (Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, New Zealand, the UK and the US) for the 12 months to March 2013 and compared it with results previously reported in the Richards Report, which covered the 12 months to March 2009.

The UK still ranks as 9th out of the 13 countries in its medicines usage, but its use of older medicines, i.e. generics, has increased since 2009. The UK’s use of cancer medicines 10 years and older has increased from 78% in 2009, based on a percentage of the EU5 average, to 103% in 2013. As a percentage of all 13 countries the UK’s use of older cancer meds has increased from 87% in 2009 to 124% in 2013.

In contrast, the UK’s usage of newer hormonal cancer medicines and anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) biologicals has fallen since 2009 (138% 2009, 121% 2013 and 73% 2009, 63% 2013, respectively).

For diabetes, usage of medicines in new classes is around a third of that in the comparator countries, close to the average of comparator countries for insulins, and significantly above the international average for older diabetes medicines.

The finding that the UK uses more ‘older drugs’ is perhaps not surprising in a country where more than 70% of prescriptions are for generics [1].

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Reference
1.   GaBI Online - Generics and Biosimilars Initiative. Generics shortages continue to rise in the UK [www.gabionline.net]. Mol, Belgium: Pro Pharma Communications International; [cited 2014 Dec 12]. Available from: www.gabionline.net/Pharma-News/Generics-shortages-continue-to-rise-in-the-UK 

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