They identified a hundred molecules sold freely elsewhere in Europe. The key: 200 million euros of minimum savings for social security.
Do you have to go through a doctor to get an antimigraine medication, an antiallergy eye drop or an acne treatment? No, say the pharmaceutical companies specializing in first-line medications. NéreS, their federation, is calling for the government to expand the list of medications sold without a prescription (but reimbursed by social security if they are prescribed by a doctor, such as Doliprane).
The key is better access for patients to treatments for everyday ailments and savings for social security. “36% of French people consulted a general practitioner for everyday ailments during their last three medical consultations, notes the federation. 24% of visits to emergency rooms are even due to similar problems.”These conditions such as colds, mild allergies or already diagnosed migraines could be treated without going to the doctor, the laboratories assure.
99 molecules identified
France has some room for maneuver. It is among the countries where medicines are most difficult to access without a prescription. 23% of everyday ailments are treated with medicines without a mandatory prescription, compared to 27% in the United Kingdom and 47% in Germany. The United Kingdom recently asked its medicines agency to identify 20 molecules to liberalize, in order to free up medical time and save money.
NèreS has identified 99 molecules already sold without a prescription in other European countries, and which could be sold in France. If patients could buy them without consulting their doctor, social security would save 201 to 377 million euros per year, the federation calculates. This saving comes 58% from avoided medical consultations, 42% from non-reimbursement of the drug.
ANSM decision
Today, being able to obtain treatment without a prescription represents a saving of 3.1 billion euros per year, or “approximately 36% of the health insurance deficit in 2023”and two hours of time per day per doctor, estimates the federation.
The French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines (ANSM) regularly decides on such changes. On Wednesday, it thus confirmed the availability without a prescription of certain references of Ketotifen, an anti-allergy eye drop. When it makes such decisions, it generally requests that the drug in question be marketed in smaller boxes, in order to avoid overdoses. It is not the same laboratories that sell prescription drugs, and those that do not require one. But in recent years, the rule changes have rather taken place in the other direction, with the ANSM making it mandatory to go to the doctor to obtain certain drugs, such as codeine.
