Since August 1, four drugsvs Alzheimer’s disease(Aricept, Ebixa, Exelon, Reminyl and their generics) are no longer covered by Social Security. This reimbursement is the consequence of a decree published in the Official Journal June 1, 2018. This measure has aroused discontent, from patient associations such as France Alzheimer to certain practitioners. This is the case of a hospital pharmacist who asked for the suspension of this decree and the return to reimbursement of medicines removed from the list of medicines reimbursable by Social Security. The Council of State has just given an end of inadmissibility to this professional “whistleblower”.
The highest administrative court considered that he did not have “a sufficiently direct and certain interest in acting”, according to AFP.
Agnès Buzyn, Minister of Health, had justified the delisting of four anti-Alzheimer’s drugsafter the questioning of their effectiveness following an evaluation by the High Authority of Health. “These drugs are considered by the High Authority for Health as being harmful and causing many side effects, including fractures and falls” explained the Minister of Health.
A highly disputed reimbursement
This delisting had led to an outcry from professional organizations in geriatrics, neurology or neuropsychiatry and patient associations. France Alzheimer in particular had split a petition asking the minister to reconsider her decision: “The well-being of thousands of families is at stake who, at the same time as the clinical consequences of stopping their treatment, including the “inefficiency cannot be generalized, will have to assume – for those who decide to continue this drug intake – an expense of around 360 euros per year. Intolerable!” could we read in this text, still online at the association’s website.
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