I have reported about the French activities against homeopathy before (see here and here). Yesterday, this article brought considerable more clarity into the situation. Here is my (not entirely literal) translation and below the French original:
Unsurprisingly, the French health regulator (HAS) has voted on Wednesday with a very large majority (only one vote against) for the discontinuation of the reimbursement of homeopathic products. This decision, which is not denied by the health ministry, will be officially announced this Friday morning by the president of the authority, Prof Dominique Le Guludec, during a press conference. Then it will be up to the health minister, Agnès Buzyn, to decide or not on the discontinuation of reimbursement.
‘I will follow the advice of the health authority‘ the health minister declared only recently. This advice is the direct consequence of a first meeting of the commission which took place in Mid May and gave an opinion that already went into that direction. The laboratories concerned had the right to be heard and to present their view. Obviously this was not convincing.
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Sans surprise, la Commission de la transparence de la Haute autorité de santé a voté ce mercredi à la très grande majorité (une seule voix contre) le déremboursement des produits homéopathiques. Cette décision, que ne dément pas le ministère de la Santé, sera annoncée officiellement vendredi matin par la présidente de la Haute Autorité de santé, la professeur Dominique Le Guludec, au cours d’une conférence de presse. A charge ensuite à la ministre de la Santé, Agnès Buzyn, de décider ou non ce déremboursement.
«Je me tiendrai à l’avis de la Haute Autorité de santé», a encore récemment déclarée la ministre. Cet avis est la conséquence directe d’une première réunion, qui s’est tenue à la mi mai, de la dite Commission, qui avait alors rendu un avis transitoire, allant clairement dans ce sens. Comme le stipule le processus, les laboratoires concernées avaient le droit d’être entendus et de se défendre. Manifestement, ces derniers n’ont pas convaincus.
20 Responses to France will decide to stop the reimbursement of homeopathy
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Ouch, there is a kick in the stock prices. British NHS and now France, this is the type of thing that is not good publicity for homeopathy sales.
I get the feeling that Germany may be a tougher nut to crack.
the HAS evaluation has just been published
https://www.has-sante.fr/portail/jcms/c_2976813/fr/evaluation-des-medicaments-homeopathiques
the announcement of the health minister will follow in a few days
more here:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-health-homeopathy/french-health-watchdog-recommends-ending-reimbursement-for-homeopathic-drugs-idUSKCN1TT2FG
VERY INTERESTING NEW ARTICLE:
https://www.francetvinfo.fr/sante/medicament/enquete-franceinfo-boiron-c-est-plus-qu-un-monopole-comment-le-laboratoire-francais-regne-sur-l-homeopathie_2938883.html
There is too much public support for homeopathy in France.
Evidence of this is one million signatures on a petition to save this reimbursement.
No minister was going to risk a public outcry over this by removing it completely.
more here:
https://www.lejdd.fr/Politique/homeopathie-macron-a-choisi-3908429
and another revealing article:
https://www.capital.fr/economie-politique/homeopathie-feu-vert-de-macron-pour-le-deremboursement-1344061
It has been decided. President Macron confirmed that the reimbursement of homeopathy will be withdrawn from the public health system.
https://blog.gwup.net/2019/07/09/frankreich-homoeopathie-fliegt-aus-der-kassenerstattung/
Congratulations, France!
Congratulations on have less options ? …. hmmm
the notion that homeopathy is an option is not based on good evidence.
so it’s more like cutting a dead branch from a fruit tree.
Nothing (homeopathic remedies) on the one hand, effective drugs on the other. Yes, the choice is actually very simple.
Whose evidence ? … oh yes, I forgot. The evidence of FDA, pharma and AMA…. thanks, that’s all I need to know.
the evidence of all meta-analyses by homeopathy-sponsored Robert Mathie [5 or 6 altogether, I think]
I am not aware of any evidence on homeopathy published by the FDA, pharma and AMA – please provide the links, this sounds interesting.
voila!
https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/eli/arrete/2019/10/4/SSAS1925246A/jo/texte
Great news,
I misjudged minister Agnès Buzyn, kudos to her.
I hope that Jens Spahn will eventually follow her example and stop this preposterous waste of public funds!
somehow, I always had confidence in her.
Why not, the government needs to save money and homeopathy is so cheap anyway…
Interessing comment by the Dean of this French University:
Source : https://www.lequotidiendumedecin.fr/internes/etudes-medicales/pr-christian-berthou-doyen-de-la-fac-de-brest-si-luniversite-se-retire-de-la-formation-lhomeopathie
>
Sorry for the lazy google translation :
“I do not reject the scientific character but the completeness.There is only a tiny part of the literature that has been analyzed.When one looks at the Cochrane international database, a synthesis of all the studies that have demonstrated scientific validation, there are several that demonstrate the superiority of homeopathy over conventional medicine.It is completely wrong to say that there is no scientific demonstration of the added value of homeopathy. diseases, rather benign and functional in nature, in which its benefit has been strictly validated by comparative studies.
In addition, a study shows that homeopathy leads to decreased consumption of antibiotics, anxiolytics and anti-inflammatories. The disbursement is likely to guide users of the health care system who will no longer have the means to pay for homeopathic treatment to medication that may increase the cost of their care and generate adverse effects. In addition, homeopathic treatments account for less than 1% of drug expenditure. His disbursement is not going to have a net impact on the health economy “.
for simple people like you, let me use a simple comparison:
imagine you buy a really cheap car; it turns out that it does not work [beyond a placebo effect, i. e. you feeling to be the proud owner of a car] and is entirely beyond repair.
do you think that the money you spent was a good investment?
so you have found someone who is just as ill-informed as you are. well done!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20402610