Norwegian scientists say that millions of dollars are wasted on blood pressure pills. They argue that vast amounts of that money could have been saved if doctors prescribed thiazides (commonly known as diuretics), the cheapest and most recommended drugs.
“Our calculations are based on conservative estimates. The potential for saving is likely to be considerably higher, and may be over US$1billion per year in the US,”
According to the research, the estimated potential annual savings for six countries if thiazides were prescribed were: Canada – US$13.8m, France – US$37.4m, Germany – US$72.2m, Norway – US$10.7m, UK – US$119.7m and US – US$433.6m.
Yet thiazides are the less prescribed drugs, probably because of the heavy commercial promotion of more expensive drugs:
“Changing prescribing practices is not easy. It requires effective strategies and resources to support the changes. In this case, such an investment could potentially save money, and at the same time improve quality”.