Average price of drugs sold in pharmacies by therapeutic group in Spain 2021

In 2021, the average price of antineoplastic and immunomodulating agents sold in Spanish pharmacies amounted to nearly 49 euros, the highest price among different therapeutic groups. Second and third on the list were diagnostic agents and blood and blood-forming organs, with an average price of 18.32 and 12.29 euros, respectively. Medications acting on the nervous system were the best-selling pharmaceuticals, both in units and in sales revenue. That year, more than 378 thousand units of these pharmaceutical products were sold in Spanish pharmacies, and they generated over 2.4 billion euros in sales.

Best-selling prescription drugs

Nolotil, the trade name for the generic drug metamizole, is an analgesic used for acute and chronic pain. It was the largest-selling prescription drug in Spain in 2020 with over 22 million units sold, followed by Adiro, Paracetamol, and Enantyum. On the other hand, Eliquis, Xarelto, and Clexane were the three top-ranked drugs based on revenue, all of them with sales of more than 90 million euros. These three medicines function as anticoagulants to treat and prevent blood clots.

Pharmacies in Spain

The number of pharmacies in Spain has gradually increased during the last decade. In 2021, there were 22.2 thousand pharmacies in Spain, around 1.2 thousand more than in 2007. The Mediterranean country had an average of 4.7 pharmacies per 10 thousand inhabitants in 2021, with Navarre and Castile and Leon having the highest density of pharmacies in the country. These autonomous communities had approximately 9.1 and 6.7 pharmacies per 10.000 population, respectively.