The government wishes to make it compulsory to issue certain antibiotics individually in the event of a shortage, according to information published Wednesday September 20 by Franceinfo and Agence France-Presse (AFP) and including The world has obtained confirmation. The entry into force of the measure will depend on the passage in Parliament of the Social Security financing bill, which must begin at the end of the month. This decision could also help reduce waste, in a country where the consumption of antibiotics remains among the highest in Europe and which was faced last winter with shortages of amoxicillin, an antibiotic commonly used against certain bacterial infections.
This project leaves pharmacists perplexed: they wonder about the practical arrangements and identify a traceability problem. “Cut the blisters [coques d’emballage]It is not the correct answer. [Pour la] traceability by batch number, it’s a real hassle”, recently estimated Pierre-Olivier Variot, the president of the Union of Community Pharmacists’ Unions, to Agence France-Presse (AFP). The packaging of pharmaceutical products is governed by strict standards.
Single sale was trialled in France between November 2014 and 2015 for around ten antibiotics in seventy-five town pharmacies. The experiment was carried out by the National Institute of Health and Medical Research. Following this experiment, the principle of single dispensing of certain medications, notably antibiotics, was included in the law in 2020 and the system made possible from 2022.
Pharmacy diagnostics
The government also wants to allow patients to obtain a diagnosis in a pharmacy if they suspect tonsillitis or cystitis, then possible treatment without a prescription if the rapid diagnostic test turns out to be positive. The executive seeks to tackle drug shortages on several fronts: relocation of the production of drugs deemed essential, review of the prices of certain molecules, or even better stock management.
In a daily economic interview The echoes Wednesday, the Minister for Industry, Roland Lescure, made a gesture towards the pharmaceutical industry by announcing a cap on the financial contribution that laboratories must pay to Health Insurance when their turnover exceeds a threshold given. In the event of a cessation of production of one of the 6,000 drugs of major therapeutic interest, “the State may ask the company to transfer the use of the drug free of charge for two years” if there is no buyer, he added.