French pharma points to innovations

Based on dossiers submitted to the Commission on Transparency, theFrench authorities have found 24 new drugs to constitute significant therapeutic progress this year, reports the French drug industry association SNIP.

Of 800 files on new drugs, new indications, new forms or requests for re-inclusion onto the reimbursables list which came before the Commission by end-November, 153 involved new drugs or new indications which the SNIP says constituted innovation, including a number of orphan products and pediatric indications, the latter including Pfizer's antidepressant Zoloft (sertraline).

However, some of these products are still not available in France because pricing negotiations are continuing between their producers and the Economic Committee on Drugs. SNIP president Jean-Jacques Bertrand has made a fresh attack on these delays, which currently put French launches eight to 12 months behind other European countries on average.