At the 13th annual meeting of French life sciences think tank, G5 Santé – which represents the leaders of eight major French health and life sciences companies, including bioMérieux, Sanofi, Ipsen, and Pierre Fabre – arguments were made for increasing efficiency in a healthcare system that is “on its last legs.” Amidst the backdrop of France’s volatile political situation and spiralling public deficit, demands were also made for reduced paybacks and more advantages for French-made medicines.
Political and economic challenges
G5 Santé’s 13th annual meeting coincided with a critical moment in France. Still grappling with the consequences of an inconclusive snap parliamentary election in July and a shaky new government without a majority under Prime Minister Michel Barnier, the country has to urgently address its financial situation. With a public deficit expected to reach 5.6 percent of its GNP this year, the French government is currently finalizing its 2025 budget for the state and its Social Security system.
The industry group that represents some of France’s principal life sciences companies aptly baptized the meeting: “Efficiency and financing of the healthcare system: How can we move forward?” Marc Ferraci, Deputy Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry, who made the opening speech, responded by claiming that some “difficult choices” would have to be made to finance France’s healthcare system.
“Health needs are growing, but it seems difficult … to significantly increase the share of health spending in gross domestic product,” he asserted. “We will have to take into account the [current] extremely constrained context,” he said, claiming that it would “force us to make decisions in the coming hours and days that are bound to be difficult.”
Ferraci agreed that “the search for efficiency is absolutely essential” for “reconciling the objectives of public health” with the current budgetary restraints, yet he also admitted that the French life sciences industry would have to make “an effort” with respect to pricing in order to play a part in this. “We are going to have to find a balance between the challenges of health sovereignty, the continuity of a policy to attract the healthcare industry and budgetary constraints. That’s the equation we’re facing.”
A Call for Efficiency
G5 Santé president Didier Véron lamented that France’s healthare system was “on its last legs” and desperately in need of a rehaul. To this effect, the organization commissioned the consultancy firm RWEality to create the study of problem areas and a plan for improvements it presented at the meeting. “What emerged was an immense and highly promising field of action, as well as a deep conviction that the best way out of the health system’s current crisis is to work together, and introduce management based on the search for improvements in efficiency,” said Véron.
The study demonstrates that 20-25 percent of healthcare expenditure is avoidable. Solutions to address this issue encompass everything from enhancing prevention efforts to introducing systematic testing, making better use of available data, and introducing Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the healthcare system to expedite processes. Yet among these proposed improvements, G5 Santé did not lost track of its own interests and also called for a plan to reshape economic policies relating to the French pharma industry.
Payback reductions and advantages for French companies
One of the principal gripes for French pharma is what is known as the “safeguard clause” whereby pharma companies pay back the national social security health insurance when their turnover grows faster than the rate defined in the Social Security Finance Act (LFSS). The think tank includes a reduction of the “safeguard clause” in its efficiency proposals and argues for the need to step up industrial policy in favour of products manufactured in France and in so doing restore health and industrial sovereignty.
Namely, G5 Santé demands a moratorium on price cuts for essential medicines manufactured in France and the application of Article 65 of the 2022 LFSS, which has still not been applied by France’s Economic Committee for Health Products (CEPS). The article in question allows the place of production to be taken into account when setting and reviewing the price of a medicinal product, favouring products from French companies, and according to G5, potentially limiting the risk of medicine shortages. Additionally, the group demands a dedicated budget for 2025 in the form of a sovereignty fund.
During the event’s final round table, “What financial mechanisms are needed to accelerate efficiency gains in the healthcare system?” moderator Olivier Laureau, president of Groupe Servier argued for “the advantages of bringing all the players to the table,” including industry, in decision making processes about how to increase efficiency going forward. Co-moderator Audrey Duval, president of Sanofi France, attempted to press CEPS president Philippe Bouyoux, and Social Security director Pierre Pribile for straight answers about G5 Santé’s demands, yet both participants were non-committal. Article 65 is “under consideration,” said Bouyoux, who also underlined that sovereignty is “not just about location, but about the security of supply.”
