State Pharmaceutical Spending Rises In H109

Pharmaceutical spending by the Italian National Health Service - the Servicio Sanitario Nazionale (SSN) - increased by +0.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) in the first half of 2009, according to the Association of Italian Pharmacists (Federfarma). Additionally, medicine prescriptions increased by +2.8% in H109 compared with H108. During H109, approximately 531mn prescriptions were written, an average of almost 9 packs of medicines per citizen. With state cost-containment measures restricting growth and limiting prospects for innovative drugmakers, BMI believes that, although marginal, the H109 figures will be welcomed by drugmakers. Nevertheless, the market for prescriptions, and particularly patented pharmaceuticals, looks relatively bleak. From

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