France's MECSS wants tighter Rx coverage rules

The French National Assembly's task force for the evaluation and control of the Social Security financing system (MECSS) has called for tighter restrictions on the inclusion of new drugs to the reimbursement list. It claims that many new products cost more and are less effective than existing treatments, in a report published at the end of April.

The authors note that France is "the largest medicine consumer in Europe," and that the country "is characterized by a heavier consumption of recent drugs, innovative and more costly than those of average market price and which are often generics."

New drugs blamed for rise in out-patient costs