The measure conditioning the delivery of tramadol, codeine and dihydrocodeine to a secure prescription will not be put in place from December 1, as initially planned, but from March 1, 2025.
“The entry into force of the secure prescription system for tramadol and codeine (as well as) limiting the validity period of codeine prescriptions to three months (are postponed) on March 1, 2025 instead of December 1, 2024″, announced the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM), in an email addressed to the unions representing the profession, that is to say the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France (FSPF) and the Union of Community Pharmacists Unions (USPO). The medicine policeman makes it clear that this postponement, due to technical considerations, does not call into question anything in substance. “The legal decision relating to these measures will be amended very soon and published on our website”adds the ANSM, which will officially communicate on this subject in the coming days.
As a reminder, the FSPF had asked to postpone the implementation of this provision, highlighting the fact that nearly 5,000 pharmacies (i.e. a quarter of the network) are not currently equipped to read the QR codes affixed to the digital prescriptions. However, if the QR code cannot be read, the prescription cannot be considered secure and delivery would have been, in fact, impossible. A situation which would have caused some confusion at the counter. If they had been faced with secure digital prescriptions for tramadol, codeine or dihydrocodeine, these pharmacists would have had only two options: contact the prescriber to ask him to write a secure paper prescription, or refer the patient to a other pharmacy. “This is an important issue, we need to secure prescriptions for these specialties, would like to clarify Philippe Besset during an information point on November 22. This postponement is linked to the insufficient speed of deployment of the digital order, which is still in its infancy,” completes the president of the FSPF.
As of December 1 and for the following four months, doctors will therefore still be able to issue classic prescriptions for any tramadol prescription (prescription already limited to 3 months), for codeine and dihydrocodeine. This postponement should therefore give all pharmacists time to have, via their business software, tools necessary to read the QR codes present on digital prescriptions. As a reminder, a legal obligation requires pharmacists to be equipped to read these QR codes by January 1, 2025. “A software publisher for pharmacists and others intended for doctors are not yet ready,” explains Pierre-Olivier Variot, president of the USPO. Editors who still have a few weeks to get up to speed.
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