‘Preferred drugs’ can save patients €200 a year

Savings of around €200 a year can be made by private patients on the cost of anti-depressants if GPs prescribe a cheaper but equally effective drug preferred by the HSE, it emerged yesterday.

The two drugs Citalopram (Celexa) and Venlafaxine (Effexoror/Efexor) were yesterday included in the HSE’s medicines management programme (MMP).

Preferred drugs are medicines that the MMP is recommending as the drugs of “first choice” to prescribers.