NHS hospital medicines: biggest cost movers, monthly
The 100 largest hospital medicines by indicative cost each month, with year-on-year change.
In the current release
Coverage
Latest data month
About this dataset
The 100 medicines with the highest indicative cost to NHS hospitals in England in each month, with the same month a year earlier alongside and the year-on-year change in cash and percentage terms. Derived from the NHSBSA Secondary Care Medicines Data, which covers medicines issued by NHS trusts, and updated monthly.
How it is derived
Secondary Care Medicines Data is aggregated to chemical substance level per month, summing indicative cost across every trust and presentation. The top 100 by cost in each month are kept, and the same substance's total for the month twelve months earlier is joined on to give the year-on-year change. Where a substance has no figure a year earlier the change columns are left empty rather than shown as a rise from zero.
What this data cannot tell you
- 1 Indicative cost is an estimate based on national list prices applied to issued quantities. Hospitals buy through confidential national and regional contracts, often at very large discounts, so this is not hospital spend.
- 2 The data records medicines issued from hospital pharmacies, not medicines administered to patients, and not homecare deliveries arranged separately.
- 3 Coverage and data quality vary by trust and improve over the series. Early months are less complete.
- 4 A substance can enter or leave the top 100 between months, so a row appearing for the first time does not mean prescribing started that month.
NHS hospital medicines spend in England, by month
Indicative cost of medicines issued by NHS trusts, from the Secondary Care Medicines Data.
Source: NHSBSA Secondary Care Medicines Data OGL v3.0
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Preview
The first 20 rows of 6,200.
| month | rank | chemical_substance | indicative_cost_gbp | indicative_cost_year_earlier_gbp | change_gbp | change_percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-04 | 1 | Turoctocog alfa pegol 3,000unit powder and solvent for solution for injection vials | 276114000 | |||
| 2021-04 | 2 | Simoctocog alfa 2,000unit powder and solvent for solution for injection vials | 237189920 | |||
| 2021-04 | 3 | Octocog alfa 2,000unit powder and solvent for solution for injection vials | 109172700 | |||
| 2021-04 | 4 | Moroctocog alfa 2,000unit powder and solvent for solution for injection vials | 64887253.2 | |||
| 2021-04 | 5 | Turoctocog alfa pegol 2,000unit powder and solvent for solution for injection vials | 54867500 | |||
| 2021-04 | 6 | Pembrolizumab 100mg/4ml solution for infusion vials | 48721276 | |||
| 2021-04 | 7 | Octocog alfa 1,000unit powder and solvent for solution for injection vials | 42480900 | |||
| 2021-04 | 8 | Adalimumab 40mg/0.8ml solution for injection pre-filled disposable devices | 40497177.03 | |||
| 2021-04 | 9 | Aflibercept 3.6mg/90microlitres solution for injection pre-filled syringes | 39287136 | |||
| 2021-04 | 10 | Generic Kaftrio 75mg/50mg/100mg tablets | 34624625.54 | |||
| 2021-04 | 11 | Ivacaftor 150mg tablets | 34613500 | |||
| 2021-04 | 12 | Nivolumab 240mg/24ml solution for infusion vials | 27461893.78 | |||
| 2021-04 | 13 | Infliximab 100mg powder for solution for infusion vials | 25299045.04 | |||
| 2021-04 | 14 | Enzalutamide 40mg tablets | 21961667.37 | |||
| 2021-04 | 15 | Nonacog beta pegol 1,000unit powder and solvent for solution for injection vials | 19597746 | |||
| 2021-04 | 16 | Etanercept 50mg/1ml solution for injection pre-filled disposable devices | 17452669.93 | |||
| 2021-04 | 17 | Emtricitabine 200mg / Tenofovir 245mg tablets | 15532196.74 | |||
| 2021-04 | 18 | Sofosbuvir 400mg / Velpatasvir 100mg tablets | 15481636.1 | |||
| 2021-04 | 19 | Asfotase alfa 80mg/0.8ml solution for injection vials | 13265280 | |||
| 2021-04 | 20 | Anti-D (RHO) immunoglobulin 1,500unit solution for injection vials | 13074746.86 |
Licence and attribution
The underlying figures are NHS open data published by the NHS Business Services Authority under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
The derived dataset on this page — the aggregation, the columns and the rates — is free to reuse, including commercially. We ask that you credit PharmaInsight with a link when you do, which is what lets other people find their way back to the method and the caveats.
How to cite
Citing a figure in something durable? Use the pinned 2026-06 snapshot rather than the latest file — it will not change when next month's data lands.
Download
-
hospital-medicines-top-movers-latest.csv
6,200 rows · 561 KB · always current
-
hospital-medicines-top-movers-2026-06.csv
Pinned snapshot of the June 2026 release — use this in citations
At a glance
- Source NHSBSA Secondary Care Medicines Data
- Coverage April 2021 to June 2026
- Latest data June 2026
- Updates Monthly
- Format CSV, UTF-8
- Licence OGL v3.0
- Geography England
Columns
- month
- rank
- chemical_substance
- indicative_cost_gbp
- indicative_cost_year_earlier_gbp
- change_gbp
- change_percent
Where we use this data
Refresh
Monthly, within a few days of the NHSBSA publication. Last published 25 August 2026.
More open data
Browse the full dataset catalogue, the sources we import from, and our methodology.