Background: There is little empirical information about the role of new chemical entities (NCEs) and to what extent they are being adopted in modern health care.
Objective: We aimed to investigate which NCEs were launched in Finland during the years 1996 through 2005 and how they penetrated the market in Finland.
Methods: NCEs were identified from Finnish drug compendiums and verified from marketing authorization and drug wholesale databases. Market penetration was determined by extracting data about outpatient drug costs and consumption in the year 2005 from drug wholesale databases.
Results: Of the 294 NCEs introduced in 1996 through 2005, 55% were authorized nationally and 45% by the European Commission. Two hundred two NCEs (69%) had pharmacy sales in 2005. Most NCEs were for cancer (19), infections (18), cardiovascular diseases (17), and pain and arthritis (14). NCEs introduced from 1996 through 2005 comprised 38% of total outpatient prescription drug costs and 19% of the total volume of NCEs used by outpatients in 2005. The corresponding figures for the NCEs introduced in 2001 through 2005 were 11% and 4%. All drugs for dementia and multiple sclerosis, all biological drugs for rheumatoid arthritis, and most drugs for erectile dysfunction and osteoporosis were introduced during the study period. The cost of NCEs also accounted for >50% of costs for drugs to treat hyperlipidemia, peptic ulcer, psychosis, and diabetes mellitus.
Conclusions: The use of NCEs was greater when measured in monetary value than in volume. The overall costs of NCEs introduced from 1996 through 2005 were high in several major drug classes, although their share of overall use was modest when measured in volume. The market penetration of drugs introduced during 2001 through 2005 was still rather low in 2005.