The delivery of drugs to the unit will be made compulsory for certain antibiotics in supply shortage, a measure intended to combat shortages and antibiotic resistance, a source close to the matter told AFP on Wednesday.
There is no rationing. The idea is to make it compulsory to distribute medications to the unit when there is tension. But not all, only certain antibiotics, indicated this source, confirming information from franceinfo, the approach of the presentation of the 2024 social security financing bill.
There is also an interest in fighting antibiotic resistance in this way, she added.
This decision could also help reduce waste by delivering the exact number of tablets prescribed, 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 used commonly in certain bacterial infections.
This project leaves pharmacists perplexed: they wonder about the practical modalities and point out a problem of traceability.
Cutting the blisters (packaging shells, editor’s note) is not the right answer. In terms of batch number traceability, it’s a real hassle, recently estimated the president of the union of community pharmacists’ unions (Uspo).
There is no consensus on unit delivery from an industrial point of view, underlines the pharmaceutical laboratory lobby (Leem).
The packaging of pharmaceutical products is governed by strict standards.
Unit sales were tested in France between November 2014 and 2015 for around ten antibiotics in 75 town pharmacies, an experiment carried out by the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm).
Following this experiment, the principle of unitary dispensing of certain medications, notably antibiotics, was enshrined in the anti-waste law (AGEC law of 2020) and the system made possible from 2022.
On the delivery of antibiotics, the government also wants to allow patients to obtain a diagnosis in pharmacies in the event of suspicion of tonsillitis or cystitis, then possible treatment without a prescription if the diagnostic aid test (Trod) is ‘apparently positive.
The executive is seeking to tackle drug shortages on several fronts: relocation of the production of drugs considered essential, revision of the prices of certain molecules, better stock management, etc.
In an interview with the economic daily Les Echos on Tuesday, the Deputy Minister of 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 given threshold.
But in the event of stopping the production of one of the 6,000 drugs of major therapeutic interest (MITM), the State may ask the company to cede the use of the drug free of charge for two years if there is no no buyer, he added.