Question 17234 — maternity health insurance

Summary

Mr. Aurélien Dutremble questions the Minister of Health, Families, Autonomy and Disabled People on the extent of medication waste in France. On June 24, 2026, the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM), health insurance and Cyclamed published the results of the PERIMED study (EXPILED and MEDicamentous waste), the first national study devoted to unused medicines and their causes. This study highlights a phenomenon with worrying health, environmental and economic consequences. According to this survey, 517 million euros of reimbursed medicines are dispensed each year without being consumed. In 2024, 7,675 tonnes of unused medicines were returned to pharmacies via the Cyclamed sector. Even more worrying, 40% of the boxes reported were not expired, demonstrating that the Waste mainly results from unsuitable prescriptions, treatment interruptions, insufficient compliance or packaging unsuited to the real needs of patients. This situation constitutes a considerable loss for the finances of health insurance, financed by contributions and taxes from the French. It is all the less acceptable as it occurs in a context of recurring drug shortages. essential. Destroying treatments that can still be used while many patients are experiencing supply difficulties appears to make no sense in terms of health and economics and constitutes a real issue of health sovereignty. This waste is also worrying as some French people give up care or certain treatments due to their cost or difficulties in accessing the health system. Finally, it represents a significant environmental cost compared to the resources required for the manufacture, transport and disposal of unconsumed medicines. The PERIMED study identifies several avenues for improvement: adapting packaging to the actual duration of treatments, strengthening the relevance of prescriptions, raising patient awareness of the proper use of medications and evaluating, when scientific data allows, a extension of the shelf life of certain products. Consequently, he asks what measures the Government intends to implement in order to sustainably reduce the waste of medicines. He would like to know in particular whether he plans, in consultation with pharmaceutical manufacturers, to review the packaging so that it corresponds more closely to the actual durations of the treatments, to reinforce the relevance of medical prescriptions and set a national objective for reducing medication waste. Finally, he asks whether the savings thus made will be reallocated to strengthening access to care, combating drug shortages and preserving the financial balance of the health system.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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