The Ministry of Health communicated in June the list of essential drugs, after long years of shortages whose origins are varied. The globalization of business has led to the relocation of the production of three quarters of the active ingredients to India and China. The relocation of the pharmaceutical industry will make it possible to preserve the security of our drug supplies for our fellow citizens, whose compulsory contributions finance our health.
Defining the essential character of a therapy is an acrobatic and perilous exercise. Improving the quality of life, the symptoms, relieving always and as often as possible, increasing the quantity of life are essential objectives of health professionals. For example, anticonvulsant, antituberculosis and antiviral, antibiotic, anticancer, anticoagulant, asthma treatments, insulin therapy, corticosteroids, the use of antiseptic solutions unambiguously achieve these objectives. Similarly, analgesics, anesthetics, cardiotonic drugs and vasopressors, antidotes are the essentials of intensive medicine.
However, in the light of the drift and climatic hazards, the growing water deficit and the various pollutions of the air, soil and groundwater, it is no longer acceptable to offer an excessive and energy-consuming care offer. The historic drought that hit China in 2022 may have contributed to the slowdown in industrial production.
This essential list should therefore de facto eliminate therapies with dubious benefits as well as so-called “me too” drugs (me-too drugs), which are essentially copies of original molecules; the main motivation for firms to develop such drugs without originality being marketing.
Select fewer molecules
One can therefore wonder about the relevance of proposing five proton pump inhibitors for the treatment of peptic ulcer and gastroesophageal reflux, knowing for example that the marketing of esomeprazole (AstraZeneca laboratory), S-isomer molecule of omeprazole (Astra laboratory), has in the past generated an exorbitant and useless expense for Social Security.
We can also cite the four treatments for lowering cholesterol (statins), the two molecules favoring the elimination of sugar at the renal level (the recent gliflozins insufficiently evaluated but now massively prescribed in the treatment of diabetes and heart failure) , the four ACE inhibitors for high blood pressure and heart failure, the two thiazide diuretics, etc.
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