The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7479 p579
24 November 2007

This article
Reprint   Photocopy

  Acrobat Reader

News summary

Diabetes script costs up by 88 per cent in five years

Prescriptions for diabetes medicines in England have risen by 55 per cent over the past five years and the cost of these items has increased by 88 per cent, analysis by the Information Centre has revealed. The increase is particularly striking for the most recent figures available. From 2005 to 2006 the number of diabetes-related items increased by 7.4 per cent and the cost by 13.6 per cent.

The Information Centre’s report of the data also exposes wide regional differences. The number of oral antidiabetic drugs for each registered person with diabetes varies two-fold across primary care trusts. The costs for these items vary 2.5-fold. In addition, the spend on insulin for each registered person with diabetes varies two-fold across PCTs.

The Information Centre wants to know what action can be taken to ensure prescribing is clinically and cost effective.

A website has been launched to gather observations and comments on tackling this issue.