Salicylic acid
Salicylic acid was ranked 1211th of 1,796 medicines by items in May 2026, with 106 items, up 17.8% on a year earlier.
Dispensed in May 2026
Rolling 12 months
Net ingredient cost · May 2026
Figure 1. Salicylic acid: national items dispensed by month
Source: NHSBSA Prescription Cost Analysis, to May 2026
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.
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.
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.
At a glance
- Therapeutic class Preparations for eczema and psoriasis
- Presentations 15 shown
- Average cost / item £67.34
- Year on year Up 17.8% on a year earlier
Top presentations, May 2026
The individual products dispensed under Salicylic acid this month.
| Presentation | BNF code | Items | Net ingredient cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salicylic acid 5% ointment in a base | 1305020S0AACZCZ | 26 | £545 |
| Salicylic acid 5% cream | 1305020S0AAA4A4 | 18 | £418 |
| Salicylic acid 2% ointment | 1305020S0AAABAB | 16 | £645 |
| Salicylic acid 2% in Aqueous cream | 1305020S0AACSCS | 11 | £360 |
| Zinc and Salicylic acid paste | 1305020S0AACUCU | 10 | £304 |
| Salicylic acid 10% in Aqueous cream | 1305020S0AACRCR | 6 | £180 |
| Salicylic acid 20% in Aqueous cream | 1305020S0AABPBP | 5 | £430 |
| Salicylic acid 1% in Aqueous cream | 1305020S0AACTCT | 4 | £1,003 |
| Salicylic acid 2% lotion | 1305020S0AAAEAE | 2 | £549 |
| Salicylic acid 40% in Yellow soft paraffin | 1305020S0AABUBU | 2 | £783 |
| Salicylic acid 25% in White soft paraffin | 1305020S0AACJCJ | 2 | £1,300 |
| Salicylic acid 3% in Aqueous cream | 1305020S0AABTBT | 1 | £161 |
| Salicylic acid 2% in White soft paraffin | 1305020S0AACCCC | 1 | £326 |
| Salicylic acid 5% in Generic Unguentum M cream | 1305020S0AACWCW | 1 | £84 |
| Salicylic acid 5% in Aqueous cream | 1305020S0AADTDT | 1 | £50 |
Source: NHSBSA Prescription Cost Analysis · to May 2026 OGL v3.0
Where Salicylic acid is dispensed
The regions and dispensing practices with the highest Salicylic acid volumes.
Top regions
- NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board 13
- NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board 12
- NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board 12
- NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board 11
- NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board 9
- NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board 8
Top dispensing practices
Regional volumes from NHSBSA Prescription Cost Analysis; practice volumes from NHS dispensing data.
Compare Salicylic acid with
Other medicines in the same BNF section, by prescribing volume.
Download this data
The monthly series for Salicylic acid is in this page's CSV. For the ranked national series across every medicine, with the method and caveats documented, see the most-prescribed medicines dataset in our open data catalogue.