French pharma industry sets out demands ahead of presidential election
Ahead of France’s presidential election, pharmaceutical trade association Leem is urging candidates to prioritise health
France’s pharmaceutical industry is urging presidential candidates to put healthcare at the centre of their election campaigns, warning that worsening access to innovative medicines, declining competitiveness and mounting financial pressures threaten the country’s healthcare system.
Eight months ahead of the French presidential election, Leem, the trade association representing pharmaceutical companies in France, has unveiled a three-point agenda calling for an overhaul of health policy, stronger incentives for pharmaceutical investment and sustainable healthcare financing.
“Health is an issue of national cohesion, sovereignty and competitiveness,” said Leem president Jean-François Brochard. “It is an investment for France, just like defence, energy or digital technology. It must no longer be treated as a secondary issue.”
Leem warned that France risks falling further behind international competitors despite its strong medical research base and established early-access programme.
The association highlighted a median wait of 520 days for access to new medicines and an average 185 days to enrol the first patient in a clinical trial.
Its first demand is a fundamental rethink of healthcare planning, replacing annual budgeting with a five-year strategy and multi-year legislation to anticipate medical innovation, rising demand and funding needs.
Leem also wants greater investment in disease prevention and a new approach to assessing medicines that recognises their wider economic and societal benefits, rather than treating them solely as costs.
Its second priority is restoring France’s attractiveness for pharmaceutical investment. The association called for tax incentives, simpler regulatory procedures, support for domestic manufacturing and faster clinical trials, warning that France has slipped to fourth place in European clinical research.
The third priority focuses on financing, with Leem warning that France’s €16 billion health-insurance deficit could exceed €40 billion by 2030.
It called for more efficient prescribing and greater use of generics, biosimilars and other off-patent medicines to free up resources for innovative treatments.
To press its demands, Leem is launching #SantéCandidate, a campaign designed to force healthcare higher up the presidential agenda and make candidates explain how they intend to safeguard access to medicines and innovation.