In his social security financing bill presented at the end of last September, the Minister of Health Marisol Touraine had announced her intention to promote the sale of single medication in order to save money. “Each French person keeps an average of 1.5 kg of unused medication in his medicine cabinet! It is both a mess and a danger, and it promotes self-medication inappropriately. We are therefore going to experiment with dispensing drugs individually, and no longer by box, starting with certain antibiotics, in certain regions, ”she declared.
The deputies decided to go in its direction by giving the green light to this experimentation of unit sales in voluntary pharmacies. The conditions for implementation will be set by decree, when the 2014 social security financing bill (PLFSS) has finished being examined by deputies and senators.
The sale of antibiotics individually should also reduce their consumption in France. The latest study from the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) indeed indicates that despite the information campaigns of the Health Insurance, the consumption of antibiotics is not weakening. In 5 years, antibiotic prescriptions have increased by 3% and France remains one of the largest European consumers of antibiotics with an average consumption 30% higher than the European average, especially compared to the countries of Northern Europe. .
