The Italian Medicines Agency (Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco, AIFA) published The use of medicines in Italy – OsMed Report 2025 (L’uso dei Farmaci in Italia – Rapporto OsMed 2025) on 6 August. The report from the National Observatory on the Use of Medicines (Osservatorio Nazionale sull’Impiego dei Medicinali, OsMed) extends the picture from AIFA’s statutory expenditure monitoring, covered by LiSAH in June, to the composition and drivers of medicines spending across public and private channels.
Total pharmaceutical expenditure rose 6.0% to €39.3 billion. Public expenditure reached €28.4 billion, up 5.8%, while expenditure borne directly by citizens increased 7.5% to €10.7 billion. This is a broad private-spending measure covering privately purchased reimbursable medicines, prescription Class C medicines, self-medication and patient contributions, not simply public-system co-payments.
Privately purchased Class A medicines increased 16.2%. Tirzepatide accounted for €225.5 million of private Class A expenditure, compared with €123.4 million funded by the National Health Service (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale, SSN) under AIFA reimbursement conditions. AIFA now measures private Class A purchases using pharmacy sell-out data covering about 95% of pharmacies.
Specialist treatment also expanded. Orphan-medicine expenditure rose 7.9% to €2.55 billion, while 1,195 advanced therapy treatments cost €222.6 million, up 14.5%. Expenditure charged specifically to the innovative medicines fund fell 19.4%, largely as products completed their three-year innovative-status period.
Reimbursed community daily-dose consumption rose only about 1%, while territorial pack volumes fell 0.5%. Italy also shows contrasting off-patent performance: biosimilars represented 71.4% of consumption in AIFA’s European comparison, while generics accounted for 32.1% of off-patent consumption.
OsMed therefore provides a broader explanation of expenditure growth than the €24.965 billion statutory monitoring total finalised in July. The figures point to treatment mix, specialist therapies and privately financed use as important drivers beyond medicine volumes.
Source: Italian Medicines Agency
Link: AIFA pubblica il Rapporto OsMed 2025 “L’uso dei Farmaci in Italia” (AIFA publishes the OsMed Report 2025 ‘The use of medicines in Italy’)
Date: 6 August 2026
Source: Italian Medicines Agency
Link: L’uso dei farmaci in Italia – Rapporto OsMed 2025 (The use of medicines in Italy – OsMed Report 2025)
Date: 6 August 2026
Source: Italian Medicines Agency
Link: Spesa farmaceutica gennaio-dicembre 2025: monitoraggio AIFA consuntivo (Pharmaceutical expenditure January–December 2025: final AIFA monitoring)
Date: 31 July 2026
