The drug companies union is outraged by Médecins du Monde’s latest campaign on drug prices, which it considers caricature and outrageous.
Disease, as profitable as real estate and oil. With its latest campaign, Médecins du Monde (Mdm) hits hard. Its target: drug manufacturers and the prices they charge. The association, which is launching a petition, also provides for three weeks of display in the public space. But his shattering slogans frightened several billers, who declined the offer. The syndicate Drug companies (Leem), for his part, makes his anger heard and denounces “caricatured and outrageous remarks”.
Exploding costs
“Breast cancer, the more advanced it is, the more lucrative it is. With its 10 posters, MdM clearly harpoons the pharmaceutical industry. At the heart of its concerns, the increasing cost of innovative drugs in the treatment of cancer and hepatitis. It must be said that with the aging of the population, the bill explodes for public finances: the drug item represents 28 billion euros of expenditure per year.
MdM therefore attacks manufacturers, but also the State which has not fulfilled its mission of regulating prices. The association uses a glaring example for this: Sovaldi, which costs 89 € to produce, requires an expenditure of 41,861.40 € for a 12-week cure. The same goes for the most recent anticancer drugs. “Never have such differences between production and research and development costs been reached in our country,” notes Médecins du Monde.
This campaign was banned. Is it not rather indecent profit that should be prohibited? #TheLifePrice pic.twitter.com/cEhF4EGgPg
– Doctors of the World (@MdM_France) June 13, 2016
“Offensive” accusations
Leem does not hide its indignation at this new campaign. It must be said that after the petition of the League against cancer, already not very complimentary, this last action represents the proverbial drop of water that broke the camel’s back. “To imagine that drug companies speculating on the worsening of certain diseases such as breast cancer is not only offensive for manufacturers, it is also particularly shocking and disrespectful for the millions of people who fight the disease daily” , strangles the union in a press release.
The organization then advances a point-by-point defense against the NGO’s accusations, starting with the price of innovative molecules. This is good news for patients, but a challenge for the health system, according to the union. It therefore calls for an in-depth reform of the health system, in order to promote patient care. “In view of these major issues, the issue of the price of innovative drugs should not be the tree that hides the forest,” says Leem.
Generic license requested
Finally, the union underlines that the price of drugs is set after negotiations with the Economic Committee for Health Products (CEPS), which takes into account the therapeutic benefit but also the costs of research and the duration of development. The press release does not forget to take a step in the direction of Médecins du Monde in conclusion and proposes an alignment of “the progression of the envelope of reimbursed drugs at the level of that of the ONDAM. The objective is to guarantee access to innovative molecules for all patients without upsetting the social security budget.
For its part, Médecins du Monde is calling for the application of the Intellectual Property Code, which allows a generic license to be granted to drugs whose prices are “abnormally high”.
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