Heterogeneity of the pharmacologic treatment of allergic rhinitis in Europe based on MIDAS and OTCims platforms

Allergic rhinitis is a prevalent chronic condition. There are different treatments across countries in Europe that depend on the cost and sales too. The objective of this study was to evaluate practices in Europe to implement the Good Practice of DG Santé (MASK-air). A secondary purpose included understanding the differences and propose improvement strategies.

This study consisted of analyzing a pharmaco-epidemiological database to evaluate prescribed allergic rhinitis treatment from 2016 to 2018 in the five principal markets in the EU (France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Spain). To gather this information, the IQVIA platforms for prescribed medicines (MIDAS®—Meaningful Integration of Data, Analytics, and Services) and for OTC medicines (OTC International Market Tracking—OTCims) were used.

The analyses excluded intranasal decongestants as they are seldom prescribed for allergic rhinitis. France leads concerning the other countries in costs and Standard Units (SU). All other countries are similar in respect to SU. However, Poland’s costs are lower than the remaining. The use of medication is very different, though: in 2018, intranasal corticosteroid was the first treatment in Poland (70,0%), France (51,3%), Spain (51,1%), and Germany (50,3%). Systemic antihistamines were more sold in Italy (41,4%), followed by 30,1% of intranasal corticosteroids. In 2016 and 2017, the results were similar.

This study represents an excellent interest in assessing the differences in allergic rhinitis treatment in Europe and can be a start for future studies of treatment trends.