Paracetamol and Co.: Consumption is booming: we spend on painkillers in everyday life

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Numerous active ingredients are available over the counter in Switzerland: ibuprofen, paracetamol, acetylsalicylic acid (eg aspirin), diclofenac, naproxen and triptans. The latter is mainly used for migraine. There are also many prescription pain relievers available. The distribution of opioids such as morphine, codeine or fentanyl is very tightly regulated. They can lead to severe addiction.

The absolute leader of all medicines in Switzerland is the active substance paracetamol. According to the Helsana Drug Report, in 2021 a quarter of all Swiss people took drugs at least once through compulsory health insurance. The best seller of the brand is the drug Dafalgan from the French pharmaceutical company UPSA.

It is also available over-the-counter in doses up to 500 milligrams, but since 2003 tablets have also been available with up to one gram of paracetamol. This has its pitfalls: Paracetamol poisoning in Switzerland has since been on the rise, according to a study by ETH Zurich. Because when the active ingredient is used in the wrong dose, it can cause serious liver diseases.

According to the pharmaceutical analytics company IQVIA, which evaluated data from the Swiss healthcare system, the pharmaceutical industry generated revenue of 9.2 billion francs from drugs in 2021. Only 15 percent of sales come from the sale of over-the-counter drugs.

While large in quantity, painkillers play a secondary role in terms of sales in Switzerland: Switzerland spent CHF 286 million on over-the-counter pain relievers last year, according to estimates from the Pharmasuisse Pharmacists Association based on IQVIA data. This corresponds to around CHF 33 per person. This is 18 percent more than the previous year. However, the increase is related to fundamental growth in the pharmaceutical market, reports Pharmasuisse. And this growth is primarily a result of increasing population.

When asked by Blick, the health insurance association Santésuisse reported that the costs of drugs billed to Blick through compulsory health insurance have increased by only about seven percent over the past five years. According to Helsana, in 2021, health insurers billed about CHF 230 million for the purchase of painkillers.

A still relatively unknown factor is online shopping abroad: Federal regulatory agency Swissmedic is warning of an increase in imports of illegal drugs. But it is not known how many Swiss order their medicines from foreign websites.

Margins vary from drug to drug. It is therefore difficult to assess how much manufacturers earn from the sale of painkillers. However, it is clear that branded products have a much higher margin than generic products. According to Santésuisse, consistent replacement of Dafalgan with an equivalent generic could save more than seven million Swiss francs each year in healthcare costs.

Still, the pharmaceutical industry doesn’t make big bucks from painkillers. New active ingredients or innovations are missing – and with them patents. Also, price pressure continues to increase. Therefore, high revenues and also large margins can be found in proprietary specialty drugs, especially in cancer treatment.

Pressure on prices is causing shortages: The relocation of production to a few factories in India or China has been deadly for the pharmaceutical industry at the latest during the pandemic. Quarantines caused production to stop and high energy prices due to the Ukraine war made the situation worse.

Since last autumn, customers in Switzerland have also felt the effects: drugs such as antibiotics, psychotropics or painkillers are difficult to deliver. Earlier this year, the federal government warned of supply bottlenecks, specifically for the active ingredients ibuprofen and paracetamol. Preparations such as effervescent tablets and syrups, especially for children, are currently difficult to obtain.

Source :Blick