Still too waste. The medications prescribed in the city but not consumed represent each year in France between 561 million and 1.7 billion euros, according to an evaluation of the auditors court published this Thursday, September 4.
To date, “the methods to collect and process unused medicines do not allow you to know precisely the amounts and nature of drug spending that could have been avoided,” the audit court laments.
8,503 tons of drugs thrown and collected by cyclated in 2023
Its cost evaluation was carried out from the amounts of unused medicines collected by the body with cycling responsible for its recovery. The invoice reaches up to 1.7 billion euros if the calculation takes into account all medications, but falls around 561 to 788 million euros if the most expensive are excluded, details the Court of Auditors. The volume of drugs thrown and collected by Cylado represented 8,503 tons in 2023.
The potential to reduce this waste can be estimated between 224 million in 867 million euros, according to the survey led by the Auditors Court.
It recommends trusting Cylamed’s experience to quantify unused medications, evaluate the proportion of expired medications, identify the most wasted products and determine the reasons to “arouse prevention measures.”
The Court of Auditors favorable to drug redistribution
According to her, the redistribution of unused drugs could be “a promising measure”, especially for expensive or very prescription medications. Similarly, certain medical devices (crutches, wheelchairs, walkers, etc.) could be reused, rehabilitated or recycled to recover its components at least, recommends the report.
At the beginning of August, the Minister of Labor, Health, Solidarity and families, Catherine Vautrin, announced that he was going to work on the issue of drug recycling with health professionals. The idea is, according to her, that “the products that are reported to the pharmacy are analyzed, so that they possibly be placed in the market.”
Among its other recommendations for a better use of health products (medicines and medical devices), the Court of Auditors proposes to encourage manufacturers to adapt the packaging and expiration time.
Health products represented a cost of 36.05 billion euros for health insurance in 2023, including 25.26 billion for medications and 10.79 billion for medical devices. The Government aims to reduce health spending from around five billion euros next year.
Source: BFM TV
