The new AIFA OsMed Report highlights how, in Italy, the mental health of young people and the fight against obesity are taking on greater dimensions also in pharmacological use. Between almost stable consumption and increasing spending, two areas emerge as strong signals: psychotropic drugs and GLP-1 analogues.
Italy takes almost two doses of drugs per day per inhabitant, spends more (+2.8% in 2024), but does not always use them in the best way. It is the photograph traced by OsMed Report 2024 of the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA), published yesterday, which analyzes the use of medicines in our country.
A chiaroscuro picture: on the one hand the stability of overall consumption, on the other the growth of two categories – psychotropic drugs And anti-obesity drugs – and a third element that continues to worry: the abuse of antibioticsespecially in Southern Italy. According to the Report, every Italian hired on average in 2024 1.9 doses of drug per dayin line with the previous year. Overall pharmaceutical spending has touched 37 billion eurosof which 24.5 billion paid by the National Health Service.
The greatest increase was recorded in the public component (+7.7%), a sign that innovative and specialist drugs weigh more and more on the NHS accounts. Regional variability remains wide, as does the preference for branded drugs over generics, which are still little used in the South.
Psychotropic drugs: a worrying sign
One of the most discussed data concerns the use of psychotropic drugs, especially in children and adolescents.
In 2024 over 0.5% of Italian minors has received at least one prescription for psychiatric medications, nearly double the rate eight years ago. The packages distributed have passed by 20 to 59 per 1,000 childrenwith a peak of 1.17% in the 12–17 age group. «This increase must make us reflect: psychological disorders in developmental age cannot be addressed only with pharmacological therapies», underlined the president of AIFA, Robert Nisticopresenting the report. However, Italy remains below the levels of other Western countries – in France the prevalence is 1.6%, in the United States it exceeds 20% – but the growth is significant and involves the network of mental health services. In general, benzodiazepines are the class C pharmaceutical category for which the most is spent in Italy: 371 million euros in 2024 alone.
Experts remind us that psychological and psycho-educational therapies should accompany or precede the prescription of psychotropic drugs, not replace it.
Anti-obesity drugs: the race to pharmacological weight loss
Another emerging chapter is that of drugs for obesity and metabolic diseases.
The GLP-1 analoguesborn as antidiabetics, are today among the most requested medicines. There Semaglutidein particular, saw an increase in almost 60% in consumption And over 58% in spending compared to 2023.
The Report indicates that “new anti-diabetics, also effective in reducing body weight, are an area of strong attention”. Public spending on antidiabetics has reached 1.64 billion euros+13.2% compared to the previous year. Behind these numbers there is the reflection of a cultural change: obesity is recognized as a chronic disease and treated with increasingly sophisticated tools.
Antibiotics: the (negative) record of the South
If psychotropic drugs and anti-obesity represent the new frontiers, antibiotics remain the old unsolved problem.
Italy is among the European countries with the highest consumption, and the OsMed Report confirms that the situation is not improving: approximately 40% of Italians have taken at least one antibiotic in 2024often without real clinical need.
The territorial difference is marked: in the regions of the South and the Islands consumption is up to 50% higher compared to the North. In Calabria, Sicily and Campania, the average exceeds 25 doses per day per 1,000 inhabitantsagainst the 12–15 of the northern regions. The causes, explains AIFA, are known but difficult to correct: inappropriate prescriptions, self-medication, pressure from patients on doctors And poor compliance with antibiotic protocols.
Excessive use of these drugs favors the phenomenon ofantibiotic resistancewhich the WHO considers one of the greatest global threats to public health. «The challenge is not only to reduce consumption – we read in the report – but to improve its quality, promoting the awareness of doctors and citizens». In other words, antibiotics should be used less, but better.
Between innovation and sustainability
The overall picture that emerges from the OsMed 2024 Report is that of a country that consumes many drugs, but with profound inequalities regional e criticality of appropriateness.
On the one hand the availability of increasingly advanced therapies, on the other the difficulty of managing economic sustainability.
AIFA reiterates three priorities for the future: first of all appropriatenessthat is, ensuring that drugs are prescribed only when needed, according to updated guidelines. And then territorial equity: reduce the North-South gap, both in consumption and in the quality of spending. In the end, health educationtherefore promoting an informed use of medicines, in particular psychotropic drugs and antibiotics. The final message is clear: Italy does not have a problem of quantity, but of quality in the use of medicines.
We need more prevention, more monitoring and more information.
Psychotropic drugs signal growing discomfort, anti-obesity drugs a new therapeutic paradigm, antibiotics an ancient vice that is difficult to eradicate. In the middle, a healthcare system that must combine innovation and sustainability, care and prudence.
