The delisting of solutions based on hyaluronic acid was announced in the Official Journal of March 28, 2017. The service provided by these drugs in the treatment of arhtrose was deemed insufficient by the National Commission for the Evaluation of Medical Devices and health technologies (CNEDiMTS). As of December 1, all treatments based on injectable hyaluronic acid prescribed for osteoarthritis of the knee will therefore no longer be reimbursed.
A decision contested by the French Association for the Fight against Rheumatism (AFLAR) and the French College of Rheumatologists, who are concerned about the repercussions of such a decision on patients suffering from osteoarthritis.
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Hyaluronic acid is one of the constituents of synovial fluid, the joint fluid in which the cartilage of the joints bathes. In a joint with osteoarthritis, hyaluronic acid is broken down, resulting in reduced lubricating and protective properties. Hyaluronic acid injections are then prescribed to relieve pain and prevent worsening of osteoarthritis.
“The de-reimbursement of these injections will have two consequences: it will deprive the most disadvantaged patients of access to quality care and it will postpone the prescriptions to more iatrogenic treatments, more expensive for health insurance and no more. effective and accelerate patients’ recourse to prosthetic surgery, which is not always a panacea, which is very expensive, and not without dangers “ underline Aflar and CFMR in a joint statement.
Both therefore ask the Minister of Health to re-examine the file on the effectiveness of these treatments.
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