New drugs for type 2 diabetes mellitus: The challenge of the health care sustainability combined with a better patient care access

ABSTRACT

The increased prescribing and dispensing of new drugs for type 2 diabetes mellitus due to less stringent prescription regulations has led both to bringing therapies closer to the patient, as required by post-Covid-19 European policies, and to an unpredictable increase in health care spending. In particular, in Italy, with the introduction of the National Plan for Reconstruction and Resilience, an attempt has been made to give more prescriptive freedom to the General Practitioner (GP). Through the introduction of prescriptive notes, patients can directly go to the primary care physician for the prescription of chronic therapies, without going to the specialist doctor anymore. Note 100, introduced at the beginning of 2022, defines the prescription of specific categories of medicines which are indicated for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus and which are directly prescribed by the GP. This study aimed to analyze the prescribing trend of these medicines, by comparing the first half of the year 2021, without Note 100, with the first half of the year 2022, afterwards the introduction of the new regulations.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Diabetes
• prescribing
• pharmacoutilization
• prescriptive analysis
• dispensing
• governance

Acknowledgements

Authors contributions: FF: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Methodology, Supervision, Validation; AZ: Writing – review & editing MB: Supervision, Validation; RL: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft. FC: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft; UT: Writing – review & editing MB: Supervision, Validation; EN: Supervision, Validation; AV: Writing – review & editing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

All stated data can be provided on request to the reader.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Francesco Ferrara

Francesco Ferrara, managing pharmacist at Asl Napoli 3 SUD, author of numerous publications in pharmacology and health economics. One of the most prominent authors in the Covid-19 field.

Andrea Zovi

Andrea Zovi, a senior pharmacist at the Italian Ministry of Health, a researcher at the University of Camerino and active in the field of pharmacoutput studies and health economics.

Roberto Langella

Roberto Langella, managing pharmacist at ATS Milan and regional secretary of the Italian Scientific Society of Hospital Pharmacy (SIFO), is scientific manager of several national events in the medical and pharmacological fields.

Fabiola Cavallaro

Fabiola Cavallaro, a research pharmacist at the University of Naples Federico II, who is active in the field of pharmacoutilization and management of pharmacovigilance issues.

Eduardo Nava

Eduardo Nava, Director of the Pharmaceutical Department of the Asl Napoli 3 SUD, highly experienced in the field of public health management and keynote speaker at numerous national medical events.

Ugo Trama

Ugo Trama, pharmacist manager at the General Directorate for Drug Policies of the Campania region, highly experienced in the field of public health management and keynote speaker at numerous national medical events.

Antonio Vitiello

Antonio Vitiello, senior pharmacologist at the Italian Ministry of Health, author of numerous publications on pharmacology and health economics. He is one of the most important authors in the field of Covid-19.