ArticleFrontiers in pharmacology2018
The Economic Impact of a Switch From Prescription-Only to Non-prescription Drugs in Italy.
Article in Frontiers in pharmacology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Self-care with non-prescription medicines to improve health care access and quality of life in low- and middle-income countries: systematic review and methodological approach.Frontiers in public health · 2023Pooled it
- Expanding OTC medicine access in non-pharmacy settings for self-medication: a scoping review.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2026Review
- Exploring medicine classification and accessibility: a qualitative study.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2025Article
- Knowledge and Use of Over-the-counter Drugs in Italy: An Exploratory Survey-based Study in the General Population.Current neuropharmacology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The paper analyses the potential economic impact of switching drugs from prescription-only to over the counter status, using Italy as a case-study. The study assumes a societal perspective, investigating the effects of switches (and consequent delisting) on drugs spending, avoided visits by GPs (General Practitioners) and avoided time spent by patients for these visits. It overcomes the main pitfalls of previous studies, providing a rational for listing switchable products and applying both a static (no impact of switch on prices and volumes consumed) and a dynamic approach (impact on pricing policies and volumes depending on price-elasticity). Different scenarios were assumed including shorter/longer time spent for visits and inclusion/exclusion of the economic value of time of retiree patients. Results show that switching policy provides with societal savings ranging from 1 to 2.1 1 billion Euro. The economic impact on patients is less straightforward and depends on the scenarios used. If a longer time is spent on visits, the economic value of this time will compensate the cost of the switch to patients due to delisting. Despite the net economic benefit should be carefully interpreted, the results demonstrate how switching can contribute to the sustainability of the health care system in the middle-long run thanks to the more rational use of resources, combined with an increased awareness and responsibility of the involved stakeholders.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.