What Can the United States Learn from Pharmaceutical Spending Controls in France?

ISSUE: U.S. health care payers and policymakers are looking for strategies to combat high drug prices and spending. In the United States, spending on prescription drugs grew an average of 3.6 percent annually from 2008 to 2017, a rate far more rapid than in other developed nations like France, where retail drug spending declined during this same period. GOALS: Describe and assess France’s system of pharmaceutical price and spending controls to identify potential lessons for the U.S. METHODS: Analysis of legal texts and government reports and interviews with policymakers and members of the French pharmaceutical trade association. KEY FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION: To control spending, France sets maximum prices for new products that reflect the added value of the new drug compared with a comparator product. The country also prohibits price increases after a new drug’s launch and, after five years, lowers prices and obtains additional discounts based on market competition. France also requires manufacturers to pay rebates if spending exceeds a national pharmaceutical spending cap set by Parliament. By employing approaches used in France, private and public payers in the U.S. could reduce drug spending without restricting access to new drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]