Method

Medicines

Each medicine is linked to its substance by the WHO ATC code and related to its defined daily dose (DDD) [1]. The WHO defines the DDD as the assumed average maintenance dose per day for a drug used for its main indication in adults; it is a unit of measurement, not a recommended dose [2]. A DDD applies to the declared strength of the product, whatever the salt [2].

For each country, the pilot sets one reference product (substance, form, strength) and keeps all its marketed, priced packs:

• France: marketed single-substance products of the BDPM, active packs with a declaration of marketing and a public price [3]. The BDPM gives no ATC code, so the match goes through the code of the active substance.
• Spain: products with status "ALTA" in the Nomenclátor de facturación, with a single active ingredient and a price [4]; a pack is kept only when CIMA gives it the expected ATC code [5].
• United Kingdom: Drug Tariff Part VIIIA lines for the reference virtual product [6], whose ATC code is checked in the dm+d [7]; adalimumab, absent from the Drug Tariff, takes the NHS indicative price of each brand in the dm+d.

For each pack: DDD per pack = quantity of substance ÷ DDD; cost per DDD = pack price ÷ DDD per pack; annual cost at the WHO standard dose = cost per DDD × 365. This annual cost always says whether it starts from a list price or a reimbursement tariff, and it is never a real patient's cost. Lithium carbonate is converted into millimoles of lithium (400 mg = 10.83 mmol), because the WHO DDD is expressed in mmol.

Matching rate for medicines

Medicines not matched (1)

• Adalimumab, Spain: Adalimumab is dispensed by hospital pharmacies in Spain, so it is absent from the Nomenclátor de Facturación, which lists products dispensed in community pharmacies.

The Spanish ATC check set aside two packs for which CIMA gives another code: METOTREXATO SEMANAL WYETH 2,5 MG COMPRIMIDOS, 24 comprimidos (L01BA01), METOTREXATO WYETH 2,5 mg COMPRIMIDOS, 24 comprimidos (L01BA01).

Names, authorisations and safety

Each medicine page gives its trade names by country, with a link to the official product page, and its European public assessment reports (EPAR). The EPARs come from the European Medicines Agency's list, filtered by ATC code [8]; French names come from the BDPM and Spanish names from CIMA, which confirms each brand's ATC code. For the seven medicines it lists, the DysNet register, published under CC BY 4.0, adds the names in other languages, the brands of the United States, Italy and Canada, and identifiers [9]. The literature comes from PubMed: the number of papers on the medicine, then the most recent Cochrane reviews, systematic reviews and practice guidelines, without the papers centred on pregnancy or teratology, which are not the subject of the site [10].

Each page also says whether the medicine is on the 2025 WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, from its electronic version, with the list (core or complementary), the children's list and each indication; a medicine covered as a therapeutic alternative to another is flagged [11].

Pregnancy is not the subject of this site. A pregnant-woman pictogram marks the seven medicines in the DysNet teratogen register and links to their entry in that register [9].

Health technology assessments

Each medicine page lists the opinions of the assessment bodies: the HAS Transparency Committee, through the BDPM [3]; the NICE technology appraisals in which the medicine is one of the technologies appraised [12]; the SMC advice on the medicine alone, without combinations [13]; the G-BA early benefit assessments, whose annual treatment cost is quoted as the decision gives it [14]; and the AEMPS therapeutic positioning reports [15]. A G-BA annual cost is an HTA figure, computed at the prices of the decision's date.

Medical devices

A device has no standard quantity. Each product is therefore defined in words (components, custom-made or ready-made), classified by EMDN [16], then matched to the codes of each system: the French LPP [17], the HCPCS codes and Medicare DMEPOS fee schedule [18] [19], and the Australian Prescribed List [20]. Each match carries a verdict: close match, partial match, or no code. When several lines make up the product, the total adds them up; when several models are alternatives, the total is a range.

The United States fee schedule gives one amount per state; the pilot takes the median of the non-rural amounts and publishes each state. When the French code sets a renewal or guarantee period, the pilot also gives the cost per year over that period.

Matching rate for devices

Products without a code (12)

• Myoelectric below-elbow prosthesis, adult (base system), Australia: The Prescribed List covers devices used or implanted as part of hospital treatment. The Department of Health states that external devices, like prosthetic limbs, are not eligible to be listed.
• Myoelectric hand, adult, Australia: The Prescribed List covers devices used or implanted as part of hospital treatment. The Department of Health states that external devices, like prosthetic limbs, are not eligible to be listed.
• Multi-articulating myoelectric hand, Australia: The Prescribed List covers devices used or implanted as part of hospital treatment. The Department of Health states that external devices, like prosthetic limbs, are not eligible to be listed.
• Body-powered below-elbow prosthesis (base), Australia: The Prescribed List covers devices used or implanted as part of hospital treatment. The Department of Health states that external devices, like prosthetic limbs, are not eligible to be listed.
• Below-knee prosthesis with its foot (endoskeletal), Australia: The Prescribed List covers devices used or implanted as part of hospital treatment. The Department of Health states that external devices, like prosthetic limbs, are not eligible to be listed.
• Energy-storing prosthetic foot, adult, Australia: The Prescribed List covers devices used or implanted as part of hospital treatment. The Department of Health states that external devices, like prosthetic limbs, are not eligible to be listed.
• Microprocessor-controlled prosthetic knee, Australia: The Prescribed List covers devices used or implanted as part of hospital treatment. The Department of Health states that external devices, like prosthetic limbs, are not eligible to be listed.
• Hinged knee orthosis, prefabricated, Australia: The Prescribed List covers devices used or implanted as part of hospital treatment. The Department of Health states that external devices, like prosthetic limbs, are not eligible to be listed.
• Custom-made wrist-hand orthosis, Australia: The Prescribed List covers devices used or implanted as part of hospital treatment. The Department of Health states that external devices, like prosthetic limbs, are not eligible to be listed.
• Custom-made ankle-foot orthosis, Australia: The Prescribed List covers devices used or implanted as part of hospital treatment. The Department of Health states that external devices, like prosthetic limbs, are not eligible to be listed.
• Bone-anchored implant for an above-knee prosthesis, France: No limb osseointegration implant is listed on the LPP; the bone-anchored devices listed there are hearing implants.
• Bone-anchored implant for an above-knee prosthesis, United States: The implant is not on the DMEPOS fee schedule.

Currencies

Amounts are converted into euros at the ECB reference rate of 9 October 2026: €1 = £0.84763, US$1.1206, A$1.6052 [21]. The original amount is always shown beside it. The conversion is a calculation of this pilot, not an ECB figure.

What each figure records

Every amount records its value, its currency, its kind (list price, reimbursement tariff or HTA figure), its source, the source URL, the date it was read and the source line it comes from (CIP13 code, national code, SNOMED code of the product, LPP code or HCPCS code). The counts and dates on these pages are computed from the data.