Background As the result of Resolution SC 0403/10 of December 22, 2010 in the region of Andalucia (Spain) some medicines for outpatient treatment are no longer dispensed in community pharmacies but in hospital pharmacies, given that they require special surveillance, supervision and control.

Purpose To determine the savings made by dispensing oral cytostatic drugs in a third-level hospital.

Materials and methods Descriptive observational study of the oral cytostatics dispensed between December 2010 and March 2013. Data were collected from APD software. We determined:

• The total expenditure on dispensing cytostatics for out-patients,

• The percentage of this expenditure relative to the total expenditure on all oral medicines for outpatients,

• The cost savings,

• The most expensive active ingredients.

Results The value of oral cytostatics totalled 6,731,547.87 € during the period of study. This meant 6.37% of the total amount of out-patient prescriptions for oral medicines for the same period. These prescriptions would have cost € 7,141,037.52 if they had been made at community pharmacies. Therefore, these results equate to a saving of € 409,489.64. The active ingredients that affected the cost most were imatinib and sunitinib.

Conclusions Hospital dispensing of oral cytostatics led to a cost saving of 5.73% when compared to community pharmacy dispensing.

Two factors explain this cost saving:

• The Avoidance of Any Commercial Expenditure Undertaken by Community Pharmacies

• The Optimisation of Resources Driven by Patients Taking the Exact Amount Needed of the Drug as They Are Required to Return Any Untaken Medicine When Completing or Changing Their Treatment

No conflict of interest.