Diabetes drug prescriptions rise by 40%

The cost and number of drugs prescribed to treat diabetes in England has risen by more than 40% in the last 5 years according to a new report released by the NHS Information Centre

It was found that just over 35.5 million prescription items were dispensed across England in 2009/10 at a cost of nearly £650 million in comparison to 24.8 million items in 2004/5 at a cost of £458.6 million. The report found that the prevalence of diabetes in England has increased from 3.3% in 2004/5 to 4.1% in 2009/10. The relatively high cost of some of the newer drugs used to treat diabetes has had a large impact.