Pharmacists are placing. And for a good reason: this Wednesday, August 6, a decree published in the official magazine has ratified the plane planned by the Government, on the commercial discounts granted by laboratories to pharmacies on generic drugs. These are copies that generally have the names of active ingredients, such as gloroglucinol for Spasfon.
Currently, discounts granted to pharmacies by manufacturers can reach up to 40% for generic. But as of September 1, discounts will be limited to 30% of the sale price of medicines.
Gradual fall in the discount roof up to 20% in 2027
And that is not all: although the government initially planned to divide the discount roof for two on August 1, the Ministry of Health finally opted for a progressive fall. As of July 1, 2026, the discount roof in generic medicines will be reduced to 25%, before decreasing to 20% again from July 1, 2027.
The decrease of ten percentage points of the roof of commercial discounts in the generics is particularly feared. “It will be a deficit of 300 million euros in a full year,” supports Pierre-Olivier VarioT, president of the union of Frame Pharmaceutical Unions (USPO), with BFM businesses.
New discounts on biosimilar drugs
In exchange for decreases in the ceiling of generic drug reimbursements, the government gives the possibility, to manufacturers, to grant discounts on similar biological medications (or biosimilados). In other words, where the discount ceiling will gradually decrease over time for genericians, a new roof will be applied for biosimilar and increase. Discounts on these organic medications will be able to reach 15% of the sale price since September 1, 2025, 17.5% on July 1, 2026, then 20% on July 1, 2027, the equivalent of the final limit of discounts that will be authorized for genericians.
But this gesture is far from sufficient according to pharmacists. “The volume of biosimilar sales is much lower than the generic and perimeters of pharmacies are very variable in this area,” says Variot Pierre-Olivier with the BFM business. “Take two equivalent pharmacies in terms of turnover, they will make approximately the same volume of generic sales, but for biosimilar, it is simple seven times more,” continues the pharmacist.
In fact, the list of authorized biosimilar in France is restricted and mainly includes prescribed medications to hospitalized patients. There are, for example, immunosses or monoclonal antibodies.
Pharmacies closure of August 16
In response, the OPPO asks pharmacies to close their doors to the public greatly on August 16. And the inter -union, which seeks to achieve the public opinion of its cause, plans to close the pharmacies on September 18 and then “every Saturday of September 27”.
In a separate press release, the union of pharmacists of frame unions (USPO) is even more combative, announcing the preparation of “a double legal procedure against the State”, both through a priority issue of constitutionality (QPC) before the Constitutional Council and “an appeal for inaction in terms of access to attention” before the Administrative Court.
The Government provides 1.7 billion euros in health expenses in 2025, including 500 million aimed at medicine, particularly through price reductions.
Source: BFM TV
