Press Release n. 655 - The 2020 National Report on medicines use in Italy, prepared by AIFA’s Medicines Utilisation Monitoring Centre (OsMed), was launched.  

The Report, now in its twenty-first edition, provides an increasingly comprehensive and critical description of the national framework of pharmaceutical care in its entirety, delivered in both an inpatient and outpatient setting, with costs borne by the National Health System (NHS) and citizens through private purchases.

The Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza, opened the meeting commenting the following: ‘With the pandemic season, pharmaceutical policies have taken on a resounding centrality and it is time to have the ambition to make the necessary reforms, surpassing the model for silos and expenditure ceiling. The work already initiated by AIFA must contribute to responding to this challenge, keeping in mind that the National Health System is a decisive asset for our country.’

Director General Nicola Magrini reiterated AIFA’s commitment to enhance pharmaceutical data, announcing further projects: ‘We are working on the full implementation of a national dataset that brings together regional databases, in order to make it possible to link information on medicines, hospitals and other health data.’

Francesco Trotta, Head of HTA & Pharmaceutical Economy Division, explained that ‘in 2020 the total pharmaceutical expenditure equalled 30.5 billion EUR (-0.9 %), of which 76.5 % was reimbursed by the NHS. On average, for every citizen, the expense amounted to 512 EUR (391.7 EUR borne by the NHS). Approximately over 6 out of 10 citizens received at least one prescription.’

Giuseppe Traversa, Head of the Economic Strategy of Pharmaceutical Products Department, concluded that ‘data show that pharmaceutical expenditure is well monitored and under control. The international comparison also shows that Italy is among the fastest European countries to market pharmaceuticals and among the few to guarantee such a high number of active substances.’

Guillaume Dedet (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development – OECD), Anna Maria Marata (Emilia Romagna Region), Francesco Longo (Bocconi University), Carlo Riccini (Farmindustria), Agnese Cangini, Simona Zito (AIFA) also spoke.
Moderators: Marina Maggini and Alessandro Mugelli.

The Report can be found on the AIFA website at the following link:
https://www.aifa.gov.it/-/l-uso-dei-farmaci-in-italia-rapporto-osmed-2020

Published on: 23 July 2021