The report also looked at access to certain medicines prescribed to patients with cardiovascular disease.
Cardiovascular disease, which includes conditions such as heart disease or stroke, is a leading cause of death and affects around 800,000 people in Scotland.
The study looked at prescribing data for non-statin low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-lowering medicines accepted by the SMC.
Prescribing rates differed eight-to-10-fold between the highest-prescribing (Highland) and lowest-prescribing (Forth Valley) boards.
Authors say health boards with closer links between specialists and GPs generally recorded higher prescribing.
The ABPI made seven recommendations, including better planning and co-operation alongside more transparency by health boards about decisions on what medicines to use locally, and how quickly accepted medicines are being introduced.
Victoria Jordan, ABPI executive director of patient access, said: “Scotland has a strong and respected system for assessing new medicines.
“But this report shows that the use of some accepted medicines can vary widely between NHS boards, and that differences in patient need do not fully explain this.
“While the data we have does not tell us everything, it does show we need to look more closely at this issue. When avoidable barriers slow things down, patients can wait longer than they should for medicines already judged effective and good value.
“We need to plan and work together across government, the NHS, clinicians, patients, academia and industry. That way, we can help make sure national SMC decisions have benefit to patients, wherever they live.”
