How much does the NHS spend on drugs each year? The NHS spends billions on drugs each year and each year the costs rise. According to the most recent data from NHS Digital, in 2019/20 the overall drugs cost at list price in the NHS was £20.9 billion. This is an increase of 9.9% from £19 billion in 2018/19.
The total expenditure on medicines in England by the NHS in 2020/21 was estimated to be ꌖ.7 billion. The total expenditure without central rebates was ꌗ.1 billion, an increase of 4.56% from the ꌖ.4 billion in 2019/20.