France's reimbursable drug sales grew 6.7%

The French Directorate of Research, Evaluation Studies and Stastistics (Drees) has published its report on the sale of reimbursable drugs in 2005, finding an overall increase of 6.7% to 17.9 billion euros ($22.84 billion) at factory prices excluding taxes. The Drees notes that the rise is concentrated among a small number of treatment categories, notably anemia, cardiovascular diseases, blood infections and bone diseases.

The rate of increase was considered by the agency to be within the range of the previous five years: varying from 4.6% in 2002 to 7.1% in 2001, but the Drees pointed to a relatively small number of drugs as having a disproportionate impact on overall figures. Out of the 341 therapeutic classes that are reimbursed under the French health care system, only 25 account for half of their spending total. In 2004, 23 of these were in the top 25 classes.

The Drees also reported that 10 therapeutic categories accounted for 57% of the overall increase, meaning that they would have generated an overall spending rise of 3.8% even if no other drug expenditure had risen in 2005. Part of the stimulus for spending increases is the arrival on the market of new drugs. However, the Drees also noted the counterbalancing effect of generic drug competition, especially in the categories of statins and proton pump inhibitors. The agency noted that, for the time being, the small market share of these treatments (8% sales, 15% of volume), limits the overall effect on spending.