Utilization of oral antidiabetic medications in Taiwan following strategies to promote access to medicines for chronic diseases in community pharmacies

Table 1 Population trends in use of oral antidiabetic drugs

	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Overall
Patient Number	527,045	579,017	624,540	689,423	736,743	784,132	843,334	903,947	969,161	1,025,646
Volume/patient (DDDs)_c.	585.94	613.85	640.25	650.54	652.36	651.68	653.71	637.1	630.16	635.59
Expenditure/patient (US$)_d.	162.80	199.99	219.48	241.64	233.55	232.84	216.31	207.33	205.63	195.34
Subgroups by class
Volume/patient (DDDs) _c.
Biguanides	125.11	127.77	129.51	133.68	137.99	141.71	144.18	144.81	143.07	138.19
Sulfonylureas	449.33	453.46	458.54	444.33	421.16	410.44	399.74	379.16	354.72	325.44
Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors	3.64	5.97	10.72	13.81	14.67	16.13	18.04	19.35	19.34	19.21
Thiazolidinediones	3.23	16.04	27.48	34.15	31.15	32.64	36.64	37.44	36.66	38.4
Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors	N/A _b.	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	10.17	27.40
Others_a.	4.63	10.61	14.00	24.56	47.38	51.12	55.12	56.35	66.21	85.93
Expenditure/patient (US$) _d.
Biguanides	51.20	51.67	46.46	46.73	46.99	44.42	34.65	32.88	32.47	28.97
Sulfonylureas	94.38	98.10	95.10	98.36	96.40	94.07	85.00	81.35	74.84	59.13
Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors	4.94	7.41	12.46	15.81	16.52	17.87	18.54	18.45	17.39	15.06
Thiazolidinediones	7.70	33.85	53.87	66.64	60.65	62.64	64.40	60.83	55.67	48.42
Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	11.68	31.13
Others_a.	4.59	8.97	11.59	14.10	12.99	13.84	13.72	13.80	13.58	12.63

a. Others: guar gum, repaglinide, nateglinide, exenatide, liraglutide, mitiglinide.
b. N/A = not applicable.
c. Volume/patients (DDDs) = aggregated annual volume (DDDs) of prescription/annual number of diabetic patient.
d. Expenditure/patient (US$) = aggregated annual expenditure (US$) of prescription/annual number of diabetic patient.