Social Security has just announced a “durable” solution in colorectal cancer screening. An agreement has been reached for the supply of kits for “the next five years”.
More than 40,000 new cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed each year in France. This disease mainly affects men and women over the age of 50. Screening is still insufficient today. However, when the disease is diagnosed at an early stage, the cure rate is 9 out of 10. This Wednesday, January 15, Health Insurance announced that it had concluded a new contract for the supply of colorectal cancer screening kits, which would ensure thus “a sustainable framework for the next five years.”
A risk of shortage in 2019
The National Health Insurance Fund (Cnam) assures, in a press release, that these kits will be available “at the latest during the month of May”. It is the Cerba laboratory which still provides it, as in 2014 and 2018. Last year, a legal procedure raised fears of a shortage. In fact, the renewal of this market was contested by three competitors who had been dismissed. They won their case because the Paris administrative court pronounced the cancellation of the contract in April 2019. A decision subsequently confirmed in July.
Screening remains insufficient
Last March, on the occasion of “Mars bleu”, the month promoting colorectal cancer screening, the French public health agency published the latest available data for the period 2017-2018. Only 32.1% of men and women between the ages of 50 and 74 have undergone this screening. However, the participation rate was 33.5% for the period 2016-2017. These figures remain well below the European recommendations, which stand at 45%. “The increase in participation in the colorectal cancer screening program that was expected with the change of test in the course of 2015, moving from the guaiac test to the more sensitive and easier to perform immunological test, does not is therefore not materialized to date”, deplores Public Health France.
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