Drug spending in France rises 4%, flu blamed

The French national sickness insurance fund (CNAM) has expressed concern over the rise in overall health spending in France in the 12 months to January this year. The total annual increase of 3.2% was significantly higher than the equivalent figure for December 2006 (2.7%) and was fuelled by medical fees, which grew 11.4% and drug spending, up 4%. Although the CNAM indicated that such sustained growth would cause problems for the French government's attempts to control health care costs, its figures reflected an "unfavorable epidemic context." Influenza cases were higher in January this year than in 2006.

A report in Les Echos, the French business newspaper, noted that the government's targets for 2007 were already "very ambitious" and will be difficult to maintain. With negotiations over tariffs due soon between the government and doctors, Les Echos anticipates a "tense" atmosphere.

In other news, sales of reimbursible drugs in France only grew 0.7% to 18.1 billion euros ($23.84 billion). However, analysis by the GERS group found that there was considerable variation for individual drugs. Swiss drug major Roche's anticancer agent Avastin (bevacizumab), launched in 2005 grew 279%.