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PharmaInsight

December 2025 in numbers

NHS community prescribing in England (Prescription Cost Analysis).
Data updated December 2025
114,333,376items

Dispensed in December 2025

NHSBSA Prescription Cost Analysis

£1,020,691,160

Net ingredient cost, December 2025

NHSBSA PCA

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

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

Source: NHSBSA English Prescribing Dataset

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Most-dispensed medicines

Download full month (CSV)
Top medicines by items, December 2025
MedicineItemsNet ingredient cost
Atorvastatin 6,924,473 £6,394,628
Amlodipine 3,630,090 £3,153,302
Lansoprazole 3,341,937 £3,786,078
Ramipril 3,204,668 £3,105,505
Omeprazole 3,095,236 £8,623,278
Levothyroxine sodium 3,075,640 £3,709,942
Bisoprolol fumarate 2,767,478 £2,190,476
Colecalciferol 2,580,322 £10,812,631
Metformin hydrochloride 2,409,141 £5,979,310
Sertraline hydrochloride 2,268,252 £4,242,250
Aspirin 1,761,778 £1,587,743
Salbutamol 1,476,302 £4,661,362

Biggest risers

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

Biggest risers month on month
MedicineItemsChange
Phenazone/lidocaine 22,150 +56.9%
Vibegron 13,570 +35.1%
Ulipristal acetate (Emergency Contraceptive) 35,223 +34.0%
Amoxicillin 1,025,727 +32.0%
Doxycycline hyclate 447,495 +31.3%
Erythromycin ethylsuccinate 14,887 +27.9%
Amiodarone hydrochloride 37,784 +24.5%
Prednisolone 633,577 +23.2%

Biggest fallers

Largest month-on-month fall in items.

Biggest fallers month on month
MedicineItemsChange
Influenza 1,219,728 −51.3%
Fluorouracil (Sunscreen) 11,768 −26.4%
Levonorgestrel 10,272 −16.0%
Diclofenac sodium 10,890 −8.9%
Sodium fluoride 114,940 −5.5%
Terbinafine hydrochloride 21,125 −4.3%
Lymphoedema Garments 53,553 −3.6%
Miconazole nitrate 39,317 −3.4%

Download this data

Every medicine dispensed in December 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.