Thierry Hulot, the president of Leem, assures that the pharmaceutical industry, with the absence of a government, “no indication, nor any idea of arbitration” for the next social security financing bill (PLFSS). Each year, this parliamentary sequence irremediably leads to cost-cutting measures which, at best, do not please the pharmaceutical industry and, at worst, provoke the ire of the sector.
Especially in the last three years, with the rise of the famous safeguard clause. This requires the payment to Health Insurance of 70% of the revenue from reimbursable medication obtained beyond the limit set by the LFSS. However, since its creation in 1999, this safeguard clause has “totally skidded“, Thierry Hulot castigated, during a press conference of the Leem on September 19 in Paris. If it remained below the bar of 200 million euros per year in the first years, it soared to a record of 1.6 billion euros in 2023. Which obviously falls very badly when the Leem describes a “scissor effect” in recent years for the pharmaceutical industry in France which “suffers the highest taxation in Europe, while drug prices there are already 20% lower than European prices».
Capping and then decreasing the safeguard clause
Unsurprisingly, and without waiting for the next government, the Leem is praying that the promise of Roland Lescure, outgoing Minister of Industry, of a ceiling of 1.6 billion euros for the safeguard clause will be respected this year. The sector also requires starting a trajectory of decline from 2025, to a ceiling of 1 billion euros, before limiting to 750 million euros in 2026 and then to 500 million euros from 2027. At the same time, the laboratories are also asking to limit the price reductions imposed each year on drugs. For 2024, the price reductions had been set at 867 million euros, slightly above the levels required in the three previous years (between 600 and 800 million euros) but close to an annual average of around 900 million between 2012 and 2019, according to Leem data.
Three proposals from Leem to generate 1.1 billion euros in annual savings
To support its grievances, the Leem is putting forward a series of three proposals that it claims would have the potential to generate 1.1 billion in savings each year. Launched in June, its communication campaign for the proper use of medication, as well as measures to use prescription assistance for all doctors, would help prevent overconsumption and could generate 300 million euros in savings. 500 million euros could also be generated through an improvement in the system of conventional and legal discounts, which allow Health Insurance to pay for some medications, sold in large volumes, at a price lower than the public price. According to the Leem, laboratories would be ready to better anticipate these payments, which they pay themselves, whereas they are currently paid with, on average, a year and a half delay. Finally, the employers’ union proposes the delisting of certain drugs that are currently only available on prescription, and which could therefore be freely purchased in pharmacies in the future. They would remain reimbursable with a prescription, but not reimbursed without a prescription. This measure could generate 300 million euros in annual savings. It remains to be seen whether these proposals, which could appeal to the executive, will have any effect on the measures in the next PLFSS.
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
