French Generics Law Expected Soon

9 December 1996

Decisions to draft a law giving French pharmacists the right of generics substitution are to be made in the next few weeks, Health Minister Herve Gaymard has said in Paris.

He declined to indicate what the scope of the "right" would be, but it will at the very least allow pharmacists to substitute a less costly generic copy for a branded drug and, Mr Gaymard added, the development of the generics sector was one of the government's priorities. He stressed that for a product to be classified as a generic it had to have a price 30% below that of the original, trade-named product.

Meantime, it is reported that the growth in French drug sales slowed further in September of this year. Sales of drug specialties in the first nine months of 1996, excluding hospital sector sales, rose about 2% to 54.3 billion French francs ($10.37 billion). This compares with growth of some 5% in the first half of the year.

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