Changes to Direct Oral Anticoagulant (DOAC) measure

Following the release of generic versions of apixaban and rivaroxaban, NHS England have updated their commissioning recommendations on the best-value Direct Oral Anticoagulants (DOACs). As a result, we have made changes to our DOAC measure.

Our new measure now shows the proportion of prescription items not prescribed as generic apixaban or rivaroxaban tablets. As always with our measures, we write them in a consistent way, so that “low is better”. We’ve also specified generic tablets, rather than all generic formulations, as there are now generic rivaroxaban capsules on the market, which at the time of writing appear to be more expensive than the corresponding tablet. Because the measure has changed to not include edoxaban, we’ve changed the URL, and so any bookmarks to the older measure will need to be updated.

We also hope to shortly release an additional measure, showing where branded apixaban and rivaroxaban (and generic capsules) are prescribed.

We’re always keen to hear from you, whether you have an idea for a measure, or if you think something could be better. You can do this by dropping us an email, or tagging us on X.