Reimbursed drug sales slump in France

The French reimbursable pharmaceutical market has slumped in the first two months of 2007 after virtually minimal growth - around 0.7% - in 2006. Reimbursable drug sales fell 0.6% in January and 1.0% in February. These declines relate only to pharmacy sales and exclude the hospital sector.

Over the 12 months ending February 28, the reimbursable segment dipped 0.1% to 18.1 billion euros ($24.21 billion). The decline in volume in the first two months of this year was 6.5%. The downturn is due to a number of now-familiar factors, namely: removal of drugs from the list of reimbursables; enforced price reductions; pressure by government agencies on doctors to reduce the level of prescribing of antibiotics and statins; and, finally, the increasing competition from generics.

The non-reimbursable drug sector, in contrast, has been buoyant, with sales rising 25.0% in January and 29.0% in February. However, this segment accounts for only a small fraction of the total market - less than 1.6 billion euros annually.