• To minimize the costs of supply, distribution and utilization, the number of drugs selected should be reduced to the minimum. At the very least, drugs of no therapeutic interest should be eliminated.

• The selection criteria will differ for drugs with completely different effects, drugs with similar effects, and drugs with identical effects. In the first case selection is governed by the effects themselves; in the second, by cost-effectiveness; and in the third, by cost.

• Selection is more economically effective if it is strongly integrated with the quantification of procurement and the rational use of drugs. Integration implies many reciprocal contacts with distributors, prescribers and purchasers.