Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Request

‘Attached is a table that shows the ten drugs that cost the NHS the most money to buy in total in the 2012-2022 time period.

Could you provide me with a similar table showing the 15 individual drugs that cost the NHS the most to buy in the 2024 calendar year as well as the total cost of all drugs in the 2024 calendar year?

Please note that I am expecting you to provide this by multiplying the unit cost of each drug by the number of prescriptions issued and then amalgamating all different pill packet sizes, volumes for each named medication.’

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on Tuesday 29 April 2025.

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

Our response

Under FOIA Section 21, we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you.

The information you requested is available on our Open Data Portal:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/prescription-cost-analysis-pca-annual-statistics

To view FOIA Section 21 in full, please see:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/21

Data Queries

Please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data.

Reusing the data and copyright

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “NHSBSA Copyright 2025”. Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.