The government unveils measures to boost the attractiveness of France in health

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced Tuesday measures to improve the attractiveness of France for health industries, guaranteeing them a minimum growth in drug spending over three years and authorization procedures simplified.

"You have been waiting for this turning point for a long time," Philippe told a group of leaders of international pharmaceutical companies invited to Matignon during the Strategic Council of Health Industries (Csis), along with ministers of Health and Research, Agnès Buzyn and Frédérique Vidal.

"The point is clear: we have to do a lot better, and this is our goal: this 8th Csis must be a landmark and allow us to turn the tide," Philippe insisted.

A minimum of 0.5% per year over the next three years has been provided for the turnover of reimbursable medicinal products, corresponding to at least 1% of reimbursed expenditure of medicinal products by Medicare.

A sub-envelope for innovative medicines should grow by at least 3% a year over the next three years.

What to offer visibility for the pharmaceutical sector, which demanded a multi-year vision of the regulation of drug prices, to

These measures will be inserted in the PLFSS 2019, which will be voted on in the autumn.

In recent years, the growth in the number of business done in France by the pharmaceutical industry was very weak, even negative, the State having made bear the bulk of the savings of Medicare on the expenditure of drugs.

Shortened delays

The way was also opened Tuesday to simplify the procedures of clinical trials in France, and facilitate the links between public medical research and industrial (via the law PACTE), two worlds rather cloisonné in France.

M. Philippe has set a target of reducing "by 2022" to 180 days the average time to market for new health products (ie the limit set by European regulations), against 275 days currently for medicines and more 500 days for medical devices

In particular, the Temporary Use Authorization (TTI) mechanism, allowing patients to access particularly innovative medicines before price negotiations are finalized, will be improved.

The ATUs may thus also be used for extensions of therapeutic indications of the same treatment, and not only for the indications formulated in the initial application, an adaptation which became urgent in view of the progress of immunotherapies.

innovation package, an early management mechanism similar to ATUs for medical devices, will also be improved.

Csis also contains various measures aimed at simplifying access to health data for clinical research and their exploitation by artificial intelligence tools. Public and private funding, via funds managed by Bpifrance, will be used to mobilize up to 2 billion euros for innovative health projects.

On the other hand, the Csis has not resulted in an immediate reform of the criteria for the evaluation of medicines by the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS), another strong demand from the pharmaceutical industry to better valorize breakthrough treatments, the most innovative.

"This is a complicated subject (.. .) but we continue to work on it ", explains the entourage of the Prime Minister.

The Csis, instance of dialogue between the State and the health industries created in 2004 and meeting every two years, will be endowed with the future of a follow-up committee involving representatives of industry and the relevant ministries to ensure compliance with the measures taken

"I am filled with hopes and expectations for the sector, and for patients, "welcomed AFP Patri Errard, President of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (Leem)

"The French government now has a vision for the health industries, it is very encouraging," also greeted Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, CEO of the global giant of the treatment of diabetes, the Danish Novo Nordisk.

"The intentions are positive, but the devil is in the details", tempered Michel Joly, president France of the American group Gilead, saying himself "optimistic, but vigilant" on the honoring commitments made by the state

Several groups took advantage of this meeting to announce new investments in France. The German Boehringer Ingelheim will build a veterinary vaccine plant for 200 million euros in the region of Lyon.

10/07/2018 12:49:39 –
Paris (AFP) –
© 2018 AFP