The use of over-the-counter medicines and cost savings generated for health systems: a review

Abstract

Objective: To understand the economic impact of over-the-counter medicines (OTC) medications on healthcare systems and the population in Europe and the Americas, with special focus in Brazil. Methods: Bibliographic review covering a 20-year timeframe. The articles were identified through the PubMed and Lilacs services, containing the terms “self-medication”, “over-the-counter” and “savings”, and their equivalents in Portuguese. Results: There is lack of publications focused on the economic impact that medicines can bring to the countries and the society. The most complete studies and statistics have been compiled by the three most important OTC manufacturers associa[1]tions in the world and show an acceleration in switches and significant savings generated. In Brazil, a 2015 paper using conservative assumptions estimated a positive economic impact of OTC to the Brazilian Healthcare System (SUS) of R$ 364 million, about US$ 117 million. This is the only study that had the goal of an economic impact quantification conducted in the country. Conclusion: The new regulation RDC nº 98/2016 gives the possibility for the switch of many substances from prescription to OTC and it is imperative that robust studies are conducted to uncover all the impacts that can be expected, providing inputs for technical evaluations and even to attribute priority levels to them