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Generics and Back Margins: Why Is the Assessment Unchanged since 2013?
31 July 2018
Dr. Alexandre Carbonnel
During the launch of its pharmaceutical sector inquiry in November 2017, the French Competition Authority (FCA) expressed interest in the discounts granted by generics firms to pharmacies. According to the annual report on social security published by the Court of Auditors in 2017, the discounts granted by generics firms to pharmacies amounted to 1.1 billion euros in 2015.
In this article, NERA Senior Consultant Dr. Alexandre Carbonnel reviews the observations made by the FCA and the Court of Auditors in light of the current regulatory framework and explains why the recently adopted measures are ineffective in lowering the distribution cost of generics.
As such, this article argues that it is necessary to deeply reform the mechanisms of pharmacies’ remuneration regarding generics so that both consumers and the public health insurance scheme can benefit from the pharmacies’ bargaining power.