Pr Agnès Buzyn does not have his tongue in his pocket. It is on the ground of the price of drugs that the president of the High Authority for Health made herself heard this weekend, reports Daniel Rosenweg, from the Parisian. During the CHAM (1) convention – a sort of health Davos – which was held in Chamonix (Haute-Savoie) in the presence of 500 players from the health sector, this hematology specialist denounced the practices of certain laboratories in the pricing of cancer drugs. Supporting examples.
Six years apart, she explained, two laboratories are marketing two drugs against cancer – which extend life expectancy by three months, the first at 44,500 euros per treatment and the second at 105,000 euros. “I can’t believe, she pointed out, that research and development costs have multiplied by 2.5 in six years…”
Another example reported by the boss of the HAS: the laboratories “present a new drug by targeting an orphan disease. As few patients are concerned, a good reimbursement price is granted. Then, they multiply the indications for other pathologies and we end up with a drug used by a much higher number of patients and an unchanged reimbursement price. »
To change the situation, some experts suggest modulating the price of a drug according to its indication. The HAS would not be insensitive to this line of thought, according to the daily.
According to others, this position taken by a representative of an official institution undoubtedly marks a turning point. As part of the social security financing bill to be presented to the Council of Ministers this Wednesday, a planing of 1.6 billion euros is expected on the drug item, recalls the journalist.
The same day, Doctors of the World will try to have the Sovaldi patent canceled with the European Office. Marketed by the Gilead laboratory, this treatment against hepatitis C costs 41,001 euros.
(1) Convention on Health Analysis Management
