Features of drug utilization for the treatment of patients with cardiovascular diseases: retail sector of the pharmaceutical market

The article studies the main features of drug utilization, prescribed for the treatment of patients with cardiovascular diseases, in the retail sector of the pharmaceutical market of the Samara region over the period of 2015-2020. It was found that in the retail sale, the ratio of single-component medicines prescribed for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases was 82.6%, the ratio of fixed combinations was 17.4%. Through 2015-2020 the maximum consumption (the number of sold packages) affected ACE inhibitors (24.6%) and β-blockers (24.1%), while the ratio of these two groups together accounted for about 50% of sales volume (in packages) of the analyzed nomenclature of medications used in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. The absolute leaders in terms of the number of sold packages in 2020 turned out to be drugs with international non-proprietary names: bisoprolol, enalapril, indapamide, amlodipine, moxonidine. In the retail sector of pharmacies, in the group of fixed-dose combinations ACE inhibitor + diuretic (34.4%) and Angiotensin II receptor blocker + diuretic (35.0%) appeared to be the most demanded combinations. The fixed combinations ACE inhibitor + calcium channel blocker, angiotensin II receptor blocker + calcium channel blocker and β-blocker + diuretic accounted for 4.4%, 6.6% and 15.7% of sales volumes respectively. In the overall sales of the subgroup of fixed-dose combinations of medications used in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, the share of multicomponent fixed-dose combinations failed to exceed 3%. The demand of the population for these drugs is negligible, it is not more than 1%. The rating indices of the most demanded medications used in the treatment of cardiovascular disease in the retail sector of the pharmaceutical market have been made. Having calculated the average consumption of medications in the treatment of cardiovascular disease in terms of one pharmacy, we have revealed the tendency of changes in consumer preferences when choosing medications.