Objectives:Antibiotic resistance is the main threat to health all over the world. The consumption of antibiotics is one of the factors causing the emergence of multidrug resistance. The purpose of this study was to recognize the patterns, trends, and changes of consumption in Iran and to compare them with those of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.Methods:The data were collected from a national pharmaceutical wholesale data bank. Defined daily dose (DDD) or DDDs per 1000 inhabitants per day (DID) was calculated as a standard indicator for the consumption over 17 years.Results:Were benchmarked with the consumption of OECD countries. Drug utilization 90% (DU90%) method was used to assess the drug consumption pattern.Findings:The antibiotic consumption jumped up from 33.6 DID to 60 DID from 2000 to 2016. Compared to the average consumption of OECD countries, Iran has consumed antibiotics almost triple times. There were 9–11 chemical substances in the DU90% list during these years. Changes in DU90% list occurred within antibiotics classes during the study period. Although the total consumption growth was equal to 79% during these years, consumption of some pharmacological subgroups such as sulfonamide and aminoglycosides has decreased.Conclusion:Albeit the existence of surveillance system for health-related infectious diseases, the consumption of antibiotics has increased drastically, which illustrates the necessity of comprehensive and effective national antibiotic stewardship.

Objective:Iranian healthcare system cost has been remarkably growing during the recent decades. Drug shortages and the economic effects of the sanctions have also exposed the pitfalls and shortcomings of the pharmaceutical system. Moreover, the pharmaceutical system is a major expenditure source for the health system. Pharmaceutical market trend analysis serves as a reliable tool to gather and analyze market and consumption data to take account of the past policies and forecast the future of the market and disease trends.Methods:The present work tries to quantitatively describe and analyze past 17 years of Iranian pharmaceutical market sales data from 2000 to 2016. The anatomical therapeutic chemical-classified drug utilization data obtained from the Iranian Food and Drug Administration were used to analyze the market trends for each therapeutic class and categorize them.Findings:The size of Iranian pharmaceutical market has grown dramatically during the last 5 years reaching to $5.183 billion in 2016 from $3.847 billion in 2011 with a compound annual growth rate of 6.14%. Antidiabetics and antineoplastic agents were one of the most prominent market growth drivers. Introduction of new drug molecules to the market has also contributed to the trend. However, the noncommunicable diseases are gaining momentum in the national disease burden.Conclusion:The market growth necessitates policies to prevent the overwhelming cost burden on the healthcare system which in turn requires well-informed decision-making. Pharmaceutical market trend analysis tries to supply the evidence feed for informed policy-making to forecast, prioritize, and contain the cost burden imposed on the healthcare system by the pharmaceutical sector.