Skip to content
Independent analysis of NHS open data
PharmaInsight

April 2025 in numbers

NHS community prescribing in England (Prescription Cost Analysis).
Data updated April 2025
104,267,854items

Dispensed in April 2025

NHSBSA Prescription Cost Analysis

£904,327,001

Net ingredient cost, April 2025

NHSBSA PCA

Figure 1. The most-dispensed medicines in England, April 2025

The most-dispensed medicines in England, April 202502.5m5m7.5m10mAtorvastatinLansoprazoleOmeprazoleBisoprolol fumara…Sertraline hydroc…

Source: NHSBSA English Prescribing Dataset

Use this chart on your site

Free to reuse anywhere, including commercially — on your own site, in a report or in an article. Keep the credit link with it and you are done.

A live chart that updates itself when next month's data lands. The credit line is part of the snippet.

Preview the embed

An SVG with the title and credit built in. Vector, so it stays sharp at any size in a slide deck or a print layout, and it opens in Illustrator, Figma, Inkscape or any browser.

Download SVG

Paste this beneath the chart if you are using the image rather than the embed.

Chart licensed under CC BY 4.0 — attribution link to PharmaInsight required. Underlying data © NHSBSA, Open Government Licence v3.0.

Most-dispensed medicines

Download full month (CSV)
Top medicines by items, April 2025
MedicineItemsNet ingredient cost
Atorvastatin 6,268,818 £6,325,788
Amlodipine 3,375,024 £2,935,191
Lansoprazole 3,070,855 £3,880,294
Ramipril 2,961,244 £3,277,721
Omeprazole 2,945,748 £8,275,449
Levothyroxine sodium 2,855,195 £3,739,480
Bisoprolol fumarate 2,534,027 £1,965,786
Colecalciferol 2,380,210 £9,726,681
Metformin hydrochloride 2,227,725 £7,002,060
Sertraline hydrochloride 2,067,969 £3,856,914
Aspirin 1,669,046 £1,234,389
Salbutamol 1,470,116 £4,454,823

Biggest risers

Largest month-on-month rise in items (medicines above 10,000 items).

Biggest risers month on month
MedicineItemsChange
Sodium cromoglicate 67,753 +33.0%
Olopatadine 31,331 +24.1%
Fexofenadine hydrochloride 620,745 +14.0%
Combined ethinylestradiol 30mcg 170,925 +13.6%
Ivermectin 14,089 +11.9%
Buprenorphine hydrochloride 85,468 +11.6%
Desogestrel 246,838 +11.3%
Fluticasone propionate/azelastine hydrochloride (Nasal) 77,901 +11.1%

Biggest fallers

Largest month-on-month fall in items.

Biggest fallers month on month
MedicineItemsChange
Influenza 80,808 −55.3%
Typhoid 38,028 −23.4%
Phenazone/lidocaine 10,903 −22.9%
Hepatitis A 34,815 −21.2%
Erythromycin ethylsuccinate 10,025 −19.0%
Permethrin 20,164 −16.7%
Phenoxymethylpenicillin (Penicillin V) 248,517 −14.8%
Benzydamine hydrochloride 47,003 −13.4%

Download this data

Every medicine dispensed in April 2025 is in this month's CSV. For the full monthly history — the national headline series, and the top 500 medicines ranked in every month — see the headline series and most-prescribed medicines datasets in our open data catalogue.