The EMA Framework
By checking EMA website, the public assessments about human medicines have been analyzed. We limited our investigation to human medicines that were submitted for approval in the past five years, accepting the EMA criteria of classification1. Terms like i) efficacy, ii) efficiency, iii) effectiveness, for example, were used with their general meanings, respectively i) reproducing an effect consistently, ii) measuring the performance of the process of conversion of inputs into outputs, iii) measuring the degree to which the outputs satisfy requirements.
Three hundred and fifteen medicines were classified in different therapeutic groups according to the organ or system on which they act. The classification was arranged on the anatomical groupings which ATC Code2 takes into account. In this way we have considered 14 groups: 1) Alimentary tract and metabolism, 2) Blood and forming organs, 3) Cardiovascular system, 4) Dermatological, 5) Genitourinary system and sex hormones, 6) Systemic hormonal preparations excluding sex hormones and insulins, 7) Anti-infective for systemic use, 8) Antineoplastic, 9) Musculoskeletal system, 10) Nervous system, 11) Anti-parasitic, 12) Respiratory system, 13) Sensory organs, and 14) Others not classified.