France will end healthcare refunds for homeopathic drugs (updated)

Boiron SA

09/07/2019 20:44

(Updates with manufacturer reaction, petitions, details)
    PARIS, July 9 (Reuters) - France will end social security
reimbursements for homeopathic drugs and the new policy - which
has drawn the fire of alternative medicine advocates - will take
full effect in 2021, the healthcare minister said on Tuesday. 
    Earlier this year the French health watchdog recommended the
move, citing what it said was the insufficient effectiveness of
the drugs after an investigation into how they affected
conditions such as anxiety or foot warts.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N23Z4V8
    Healthcare Minister Agnes Buzyn told Le Parisien newspaper
that there would be a phase-out period before 2021. 
    The government initially aims to cut refunds for the drugs
from 30% of their cost to 15% as of January 2020 as a first
step, she added. "That will give manufacturers time to get
organised," Buzyn said. 
    France has long had a stronger attachment than many other
countries to homeopathic drugs, which aim to treat patients with
highly diluted substances, and is home to the world's biggest
maker of the alternative medicine, Boiron  BOIR.PA . 
    Boiron criticised the plan earlier on Tuesday as rumours of
the health ministry decision circulated, and it said it would
fight the edict.
    "Depriving French people of their freedom to choose (their
treatment) is totally misaligned with the demands and needs of
patients," Boiron said in a statement, adding it had been due to
meet Buzyn this Thursday and was shocked by the decision. 
    Stopping the refunds would hit the company and the broader
sector involved in manufacturing the alternative drugs, Boiron
said. Some 60% of its own business came from France, and its
suppliers and staff might be affected, it added.
    The impending move had sparked various online petitions
calling for the welfare refunds to stay in place, including one
on Change.org last year as the policy review loomed that drew
over 46,000 backers. 
    A dedicated online campaign platform against the
reimbursement changes - set up by Boiron, other firms and
several patient and medical professional groups - obtained over
1.2 million signatures. 
    Buzyn said she took full responsibility for a measure that
might prove unpopular, and denied that the primary aim of the
plan was to save 127 million euros ($142.30 million) in social
security payouts. 
    She estimated that some 7 million French people, or just
over 1% of the population, had used homeopathic drugs in 2018.
    Boiron said in its statement that over half of people in
France used the medicines.    
($1 = 0.8925 euros)

 (Reporting by Sarah White and Simon Carraud;
Editing by Mark Heinrich)
 ((sarah.white1@thomsonreuters.com; + 33 (0) 1 49 49 56 85;))