Analysis of the drug formulary and the purchasing process at a Moroccan university medical center

ABSTRACT

Aim: To give an overview of the pharmaceutical policy in the largest medical center in Morocco, a developing country in socio-economic transition.

Methods: This is an analytical descriptive study of the drug formulary and the purchasing process carried out at the Ibn Sina University Medical Center.

Results: Our formulary included 830 drugs belonging to 14 classes according to the Anatomical, Therapeutic and Chemical (ATC) Classification System. There was a respective predominance of class N (21.8%), class B (13.5%), and class J (12.6%). Injectable route was dominant (46%). Drugs had a significant actual benefit in 70% (according to the French Data), reimbursable in 42.8%, essential in 29.2% according to World Health Organization (WHO) list, and in 36.9% according to the Moroccan list. The calls for tenders included 542 drugs representing 65% of the formulary, and the attribution rate was 71%. The main reason for non-attribution was the lack of offers. Generics accounted for 45% by volume and 26.5% by value.

Conclusion: With this first study, we were able to identify key indicators on drugs used in the largest medical center in Morocco. The current challenge is to introduce pharmacoeconomics in decision making concerning the updates of the drug formulary.

KEYWORDS:

• ATC
• drug purchase
• drug formulary
• essential medicines
• generics
• price
• reimbursement

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the people who participated in this work: the team of the pharmacy department of the DUHC specially Mr Chelouah, Dr Ibn Makhlouf from the NHIA, Dr Benslaoui of the Directorate of Medicine and Pharmacy. Special thanks to Dr Walid Guerrab for his help, encouragement and moral support.

Declaration of Interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Author contribution

Z.LACHHAB, S.AHID, A.ROUGUANI AND S.SERRAGUI were involved in the conception, the design, the analysis and interpretation of the data. Z.LACHHAB took the lead in writing the manuscript with support from S.AHID and S.SERRAGUI. All authors provided critical feedback and helped shape the research, analysis and manuscript. M.HASSAR and Y.CHERRAH reviewed critically the manuscript for intellectual content. All authors approved the final version to be published; and agree to be responsible for all aspects of the work.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.