French Curbs On Drug Volume "Imminent"

Health care cost containment measures are set to increase in France, and the government will become the key decision maker in the drug market, says a new study from Datamonitor, available through the Marketletter.

While in France the momentum for cost containment lags many other European countries, the primary influence on drug volumes will shift from the physician to payers and, particularly, the government, it says. To date, the government has almost total control on price but has not interfered at the volume level, but in the short to medium term it will introduce curbs on France's massive drug consumption (triple the number of prescriptions per head in most of western Europe).

These measures could include a change in the structure of the health care system, with more control over the physician and/or the patient, introduction of Preferred Provider Organization-style initiatives, a strict reimbursement formulary and product dereimbursement.