[Rising costs of drugs in hospitals in the period 1996-2000 and over the next few years].

OBJECTIVE

To obtain an impression of drug expenditure in hospitals and in particular the costs due to novel more expensive drugs both in the past and in the future.

DESIGN

Descriptive.

METHOD

Data on intramurally supplied drugs were collected from 6 of the 95 general hospitals, 5 of the 14 top clinical hospitals, 4 of the 8 university hospitals and I of the 13 categorical hospitals for the period 1 January 1996-31 December 2000. The data were extrapolated to the entire of the Netherlands per hospital category and per year on the basis of the adherence figures. The drug costs were calculated on the basis of cost prices. For the most important new potential drugs it was ascertained whether they would actually become available and if they would substantially contribute to the drug expenditure.

RESULTS

In 2000, the total drug expenditure within all Dutch hospitals was estimated to be [symbol: see text] 402 million. A substantial part of the costs could be attributed to the use of anticancer drugs (19%) and antibiotics (14%). In 2000, about 12% of the drug expenditure could be attributed to the use of novel, expensive drugs. The total costs of drugs increased on average by 8% per year during the period 1996-2000. The contribution of novel, expensive drugs nearly doubled during this period, and anticancer drugs were the most significant factor in this. A large proportion of the potentially new drugs were innovative anticancer drugs and drugs used to treat immune diseases. These compounds are likely to be expensive. Based on these findings it is expected that over the next few years, drug expenditure within hospitals to grow by at least 20% per year.