Some 330 million boxes of this drug, which is due to be acquired by an American fund, were dispensed in pharmacies last year.
It’s hardly surprising that the sale of Opella, the Sanofi subsidiary that markets Doliprane, caused such a wave of concern last month. This paracetamol-based painkiller is the most widely used drug in France. It is also the drug most often reimbursed by the French health insurance system, which on Wednesday presented an overview of drug consumption in France. In 2023, 330 million boxes of Doliprane were dispensed in pharmacies to 36 million patients, an average of 8.5 boxes per patient.
The French are major consumers of painkillers. In 2022, almost 70% of insured people were reimbursed for painkillers, in most cases for light painkillers such as paracetamol or aspirin. Paracetamol is the most reimbursed molecule in France,” points out Dr. Sophie Kelley, head of the Health Products Department at the French National Health Insurance. We are the biggest consumers in Europe. The second most frequently reimbursed drug? Another painkiller containing paracetamol. Last year, French health insurance reimbursed 71.6 million boxes of Dafalgan, marketed by the UPSA laboratory. Both drugs benefit from the fact that pharmacists cannot substitute generic drugs for these two brands.
25.5 billion euros in drug reimbursements
Far behind Doliprane in terms of sales, the UPSA laboratory had opportunely pointed out in October, when the sale of Doliprane was setting the political scene alight, that between its two brands, Dafalgan and Efferalgan, France would have no shortage of paracetamol, even if the star painkiller were to go under the American flag – in the end, it was the CD&R investment fund that Sanofi chose to sell Opella to.
Although Doliprane, Dafalgan, Levothyrox and Kardegic are the most frequently reimbursed drugs in terms of volume, they account for only a small proportion of health insurance expenditure on drug consumption in France. In terms of value, innovative drugs designed to treat serious pathologies account for the largest share. In 2023, French health insurance reimbursed €25.5 billion worth of drugs. The 20 most expensive drugs accounted for a quarter of reimbursed expenditure. These included Xtandi, Imbruvica and Tagrisso, all used to treat cancer, and Kaftrio, a drug used to treat cystic fibrosis in around 5,000 patients, many of them young.
The same cannot be said of Equilis, an antithrombotic marketed by the American laboratory BMS, which the French Assurance-maladie has reimbursed to the tune of 755 million euros in 2023, despite the fact that its medical service rendered is deemed low. “The weight of drugs in this situation is increasing, which makes us wonder.”said Thomas Fatôme, General Manager of the French National Health Insurance Fund. Eliquis, for its part, will soon be in the public domain, which should bring its price down and relegate it far down the list of drugs that cost the most to the community.