Codeines Medicine: ABC/VED Analysis, Effectiveness and Rationality of Application

Introduction. Pharmacoeconomic analysis is an important tool for evaluating the rational use of medicines, especially in conditions of limited funding. Codeine medicines are used to treat pain and cough, but their cost and share of total medicines costs can vary widely. The use of ABC and VED analyzes helps to estimate the costs and clinical importance of medicines, which allows to optimize the processes of their purchase and use. The aim. The purpose of this study was to conduct a pharmacoeconomic analysis of ABC/VED of medicines with codeine to assess their effectiveness and rationality of use. Materials and methods. The study was conducted using ABC analysis methods to determine the cost of medicines and their specific weight in total costs. To assess the clinical importance of medicines, VED analysis was used, which divided medicines into the categories of vital, necessary and secondary. Results. According to the results of the ABC analysis, the 8 most expensive medicines, which make up 80.53% of the total costs, are included in category A. Medicines of category B accounted for 15.02% of costs, and category C — 4.44%. The VED analysis showed that no medicines fall into the essential (V) category, and the majority of medicines fall into the essential (E) and secondary (D) categories, with the largest share of spending on category D medicines. Conclusions. The conducted pharmacoeconomic analysis revealed that the main costs fall on medicines that are not vitally necessary, but have a high specific weight in the total costs. The results of the study allow us to draw a conclusion about the need to optimize the use of codeine-containing medicines to reduce the financial burden on the health care system.