French Independents' Concern Over Reimbursement

The French association of independent drugmakers (Alfi) representingtotal sales of some 29 billion French francs ($4.77 billion), says it is "hostile" to new measures envisaged by the government to remove certain classes of drugs from reimbursement.

Alfi president Francois Rougaignon said that after the French industry's "exceptional contribution" of 2.5 billion francs last year to help towards reducing the health budget deficit, the new moves seem to entail "authoritarian decisions" to remove "entire therapeutic categories." Alfi includes Pierre Fabre, Beaufour and Fournier among its members companies.

The proposals concern drugs currently reimbursed at 35% and which represent sales of 12 billion francs a year, or 16% of total industry sales. Therapeutic categories under threat include laxatives, immunostimulants and certain tonics.