Italian Drug Spending Growing 7%-8%

Italian reimbursable pharmaceutical expenditure is growing 7%-8% to anannual total for 1997 of 800-900 billion lire ($465.6-$523.8 million), says an estimate prepared for the drug commission, the CUF, by the regional health services agency.

This is based on levels of consumption in June, and further statistics for July and August may point to a final total of reimbursable spending of 1,200 billion lire.

The increase is said to be partly the result of higher value-added tax and partly due to the second phase of price adjustments to bring Italian pharmaceutical prices into line with European average prices. However, the number of prescriptions issued is turning down by 6.5% on average, say recent estimates by the pharmacists' association Federfarma.