In 2012, sales of prescribed and reimbursable drugs fell by nearly 3% in value and 1.2% in number of boxes. A slight decrease but which seems to benefit the self-medication market, if we judge the last edition of the Memento du Médicament of the French Mutuality. “In 2012, the self-medication market grew in value (+ 5.3%) but also in volume (+ 2.2%), in particular under the effect of seasonal pathologies”, reports the document.
The self-medication market today stands at 2.1 billion euros, while the market for reimbursed drugs remains much higher, at 26.3 billion euros.
Self-medication remains a niche in the French pharmaceutical landscape.
In 2012, 440 million boxes of drugs were purchased without a prescription from pharmacies. Among the most purchased drugs, we find in descending order analgesics, anti-infective / decongestants of the pharynx, cold drugs, stomatology drugs, hypnotics and laxatives.
La Mutualité Française specifies that this market is intended to develop on the condition that it is well supervised and “organized within the framework of a genuine care path”. Accessibility, information, and cost control are some of the conditions put forward by the Memento to develop this sector.
Generic: 1 in 4 medicine boxes sold in pharmacies
It’s hard to talk about costs without talking about generics, castigated by the Minister of Health for their lack of readability and their average price still too high. What does the French Mutuality think of it? Despite the upward curve, efforts still need to be made: the sale of generics resumed in 2012. 700 million boxes were sold, which represents an increase of 9.6% compared to 2011. Two billion euros were saved thanks to the issuance of generics. But we can still do better. “There are still 961 million potential savings,” said the French Mutuality.
To expand the generic market, Mutualité asks for “the widening of the scope of the generic repertoire to molecules such as paracetamol and acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin, editor’s note), but also to anti-asthma drugs, as well as better consistency in policy price of these molecules “.
