Federfarma: spending on medicines -8.9 percent in November. Trend reversal for pharmaceutical expenditure paid by the NHS. After two months of zero growth (September and October 2006), a very clear fall -8.9 per cent was recorded in November compared to the same month in 2005. The data on the trend in public pharmaceutical expenditure comes from Federfarma. On the basis of the very first data available, a decrease similar to, if not greater than that of November should also be recorded in December. At the end of 2006, the net pharmaceutical expenditure borne by the NHS should amount to approximately 12,354 million euros, with a modest increase of around 4.5 per cent compared to 2005.

The sharp drop in expenditure in November is due to the reduction in the average value of each prescription (-12.9 per cent), following the interventions on the prices of medicines launched by the Italian Medicines Agency (selective cut in the prices of medicines with higher impact on spending, in force since 15 July, and a further generalized 5 percent cut in the prices of all medicines, in force since 1 October last). On the other hand, the number of recipes continues to increase, growing by 4.6 percent in November compared to the same month in 2005.