French progress on generics, more wanted

The French senior council (Haut Conseil) responsible for the future of health insurance has welcomed the "real progress" made by generic drugs in penetrating the national market, but regards the results as still modest, given that generics only account for some 15% of drug package volume in the reimbursable segment of the French market. This compares with 56% in Germany and 53% in both the UK and USA (although differences in the funding of drugs across these countries is a factor). The HC notes that the share of the market held by drugs where generic options exist remains "extremely modest" and is currently stagnating at approximately a quarter of the reimbursable drug market's volume.

Doctors still won't prescribe generics

The council also deplores the fact that doctors are still reluctant to prescribe generic drugs, and even tend to switch to new patented agents when older patents expire. An extension of the "generics repertoire " is proposed by the HC, as well as new efforts to encourage doctors to prescribe within this repertoire, so as to improve generics penetration and achieve the 1.1 billion euros ($1.31 billion) of savings expected in France from copy drugs by 2007. The council's report notes that pharmacists will benefit from a steady rise in margins on generics, which for 2005 have already risen to about 450.0 million euros.