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PharmaInsight

October 2025 in numbers

NHS community prescribing in England (Prescription Cost Analysis).
Data updated October 2025
119,525,468items

Dispensed in October 2025

NHSBSA Prescription Cost Analysis

£1,133,656,909

Net ingredient cost, October 2025

NHSBSA PCA

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

The most-dispensed medicines in England, October 202502.5m5m7.5m10mInfluenzaAmlodipineRamiprilLevothyroxine sod…Metformin hydroch…

Source: NHSBSA English Prescribing Dataset

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Most-dispensed medicines

Download full month (CSV)
Top medicines by items, October 2025
MedicineItemsNet ingredient cost
Influenza 8,584,529 £147,831,244
Atorvastatin 6,752,807 £6,175,947
Amlodipine 3,540,050 £3,043,265
Lansoprazole 3,283,848 £3,672,465
Ramipril 3,132,663 £3,031,234
Omeprazole 3,073,258 £8,509,526
Levothyroxine sodium 3,017,153 £3,634,232
Bisoprolol fumarate 2,702,976 £2,097,182
Colecalciferol 2,514,997 £10,341,778
Metformin hydrochloride 2,368,734 £5,879,547
Sertraline hydrochloride 2,225,316 £3,924,706
Aspirin 1,749,303 £1,285,671

Biggest risers

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

Biggest risers month on month
MedicineItemsChange
Influenza 8,584,529 +11,181.6%
Amoxicillin 762,388 +32.6%
Doxycycline hyclate 359,231 +29.9%
Fluorouracil (Sunscreen) 19,397 +21.4%
Phenoxymethylpenicillin (Penicillin V) 246,167 +19.3%
Clarithromycin 162,723 +17.7%
Benzydamine hydrochloride 54,581 +17.2%
Mometasone furoate 76,611 +15.6%

Biggest fallers

Largest month-on-month fall in items.

Biggest fallers month on month
MedicineItemsChange
Adrenaline 33,360 −35.6%
Potassium chloride 11,692 −14.1%
Other individually formulated bought in preparations 18,040 −9.3%
Sodium cromoglicate 40,730 −7.9%
Ibandronic acid 11,789 −6.2%
Diclofenac sodium 13,673 −5.3%
Flucloxacillin sodium 334,134 −4.9%
Norethisterone 25,998 −4.5%

Download this data

Every medicine dispensed in October 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.