Monitor the trends in consumption of cardiovascular medicines

15 April 2011, Updated 27 May 2013

Note: The report and the consumption figures are no longer updated.

We monitor the trends in consumption of cardiovascular medicines (blood pressure medicines) in connection with the reimbursement changes for cardiovascular medicines of 13 July 2009 and 15 November 2010. Read more about the reimbursement changes below.

The report in the box on the right shows the development in consumption of cardiovascular medicines from December 2008 to December 2010. In the report you can also see the consumption in absolute figures for the indivdual months of the period January 2008 to December 2011. Here you can also access the corresponding data for the five Danish regions through the links in the report.

Many patients are now treated with less expensive cardiovascular medicines.

When we compare the end of the year 2008 with the end of 2011, it is evident that new patients are increasingly started on the less expensive cardiovascular medicines which have maintained general reimbursement after 15 November 2010. Many of the patients who already receive treatment have also switched to the less expensive medicines.

About the changes in reimbursement for cardiovascular medicines

Many people with high blood pressure or another cardiovascular disease can be treated with less expensive medicines achieving exactly the same effect. On 13 July 2009, the Danish Medicines Agency therefore changed reimbursement for a number of medicines, which implied that:

  • the inexpensive ACE inhibitors maintained general (unconditional) reimbursement,
  • the more expensive ACE inhibitors lost reimbursement,
  • reimbursement for angiotensin II antagonists and renin inhibitor was reserved for certain patient groups (conditional reimbursement),
  • reimbursement for certain dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers was reserved for certain patient groups (conditional reimbursement).

Due to patent expiry of the angiotensin II antagonist losartan, many generics were marketed in March 2010 at prices matching the inexpensive ACE inhibitors. This meant that:

  • medicinal products containing losartan were granted general (unconditional) reimbursement on 16 April 2010, and
  • the other angiotensin II antagonists and renin inhibitors lost reimbursement on 15 November 2010.

Read more about the reimbursement changes and their background here:

You can read about the changes of reimbursement in the summer of 2009 here: Changes in reimbursement for cardiovascular medicines as of 13 July 2009.