Six months after the introduction of a law allowing French pharmacists to substitute generic medicines for prescribed brands, sales of non-brand medicines in France have boomed.
From sales of around £60m in 1998, turnover in generics, priced 30 to 40 per cent below the equivalent brands, is expected to grow to some £300m this year. Nevertheless, generic sales still only represent 2 per cent of the French market, compared with 15.3 per cent the United Kingdom and 40 per cent in the United States of America.
Some generics have quickly gained a significant share of their market areas. Over half of the amoxicillin sold (52 per cent) is now generic, while generics account for 22 per cent of atenolol sales and 18 per cent of metformin. Currently, sales of branded generics surpass those of unbranded generics. This situation is expected to be reversed by next year.
The introduction of substitution has had a significant effect on the relationship between pharmacies, manufacturers and distributors. On March 7, one of France's three medical distributors, CERP (a federation of 13,000 pharmacists controlling a quarter of the French market), announced an agreement with the generic manufacturer EG Labo to be the group's main supplier.
The French government has set the maximum discount manufacturers are allowed to give to pharmacists at 10.74 per cent for generics and 2.50 per cent for branded medicines. - Contributed.