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Updated: Sep 20, 2025

An In Ovo Model for Testing Insulin-mimetic Compounds
Published on: April 23, 2018
A ten-year study of anti-diabetic drugs utilization in Iran
Nazila Yousefi1, Fatemeh Hemmati2, Zeinab Sadat Jaddi1
1Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Pharma Management, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Objectives:
According to the world health organization (WHO), by the year 2030 diabetes will become the world's seventh leading cause of death. This study aimed to design and conduct a descriptive pharmacoepidemiological investigation of anti-diabetic drugs utilization during a ten-year period using the anatomical therapeutic classification/defined daily dose (ATC / DDD) system in Iran.
Methods:
Based on pharmaceutical wholesalers' sale reports, sale data, including value and volume, were retrieved from the Iranian Annual Pharma Statistics for 2009-2018. The ATC/DDD system was used to standardize the raw sales data. Anti-diabetic drug utilization was reported as DDD per 1000 person in the population per day. Expenditure was calculated as USD per DDD. Results were then analyzed descriptively.
Results:
During the ten-year study period, total anti-diabetic drug consumption increased by 235.53%. Insulin utilization grew by 148.65%, whereas non-insulin agents' use showed a 132.68% increase. Anti-diabetic drugs' expenditure increased by almost 9-fold, but changes were accompanied with many fluctuations. Although the absolute expenditure of almost all classes of anti-diabetic drugs were increasing, this growth was greater in biguanides, which only includes metformin in Iran. Approximately one-third of anti-diabetic drugs expenditures were related to fast-acting insulins. Imported drugs share in cost was significant, but not in consumption. The overall share of insulin consumption was less than 19%, but their share of total value reached 60% of the anti-diabetic market.
Conclusions:
The growing trend in both insulin and non-insulin anti-diabetic drugs utilization is a substantial issue for health authorities' policy making for sustainable access to medicine.
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