(MintPress) – Two doctors at France’s Necker Institute have released a comprehensive, 900-page book claiming half of all drugs prescribed in France are either “useless” or “potentially harmful” to patients. Bernard Debre, one of the co-authors, posits that the profit-driven pharmaceutical industry has contributed to addiction and the widespread misapplication of prescription drugs to treat medical conditions.
The researchers claim that reforming the relationship between drug companies and Frances’ universal health system could prevent the deaths of 20,000 who die annually from the misapplication of prescription drugs.
Health care in France
The lengthy book, titled, “The Guide to the 4,000 Useful, Useless or Dangerous Medicines,” claims that reforms could also reduce more than 100,000 unnecessary hospital admissions each year. This could save the French health system more than $13 billion by cutting unnecessary hospital visits, and prescription drug addiction.
However, the research has not been accepted by all medical groups within mainstream French medicine, as the Professional Federation of Medical Industrialists, one of the leading health organizations, believes that the findings are fraught with “confusions and approximations.”
Christian Lajoux, the president of the Federation, rejected the findings saying, “It is dangerous and irresponsible … hundreds of their examples are neither precise nor properly documented. We must not forget that the state exercises strict controls on drugs. France has specialist agencies responsible for the health of patients and of controlling what information is given to them.”
Professor Philippe Even, Debre’s co-author, believes that the government should severely limit or ban 58 drugs, mostly anti-inflammatories and opiates typically used in the treatment of cardiovascular conditions, diabetes, osteoporosis, contraception, muscular cramps and nicotine addiction.
The problem of over-prescribing medication affects the taxpayer as well. France enjoys universal health care, covering 77 percent of the cost for prescription medications and nearly all other medical expenses. French government spending on prescription medications amounts to more than $30 billion each year.
The report also criticizes the limited scope of pharmaceutical research, concluding, “Sadly, none of them is interested in making drugs for rare conditions or, say, for an infectious disease in countries with no money, because it’s not a big market. Nor are they interested in developing drugs for conditions like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease because it too difficult and there’s not money to be made quickly.”
The United States, one of the biggest consumers of medications has also suffered a spike in prescription drug abuse in the past few years.
Prescription abuse, a growing problem
Like France, the U.S. has a growing pharmacological obsession, leading many to develop addictions to prescription medication. The easy access to prescription medications has, by some accounts, led to more deaths than illegal street drugs.
A report issued by the Center for Disease Control in early 2012 finds that in 2007, there were 27,000 unintentional drug overdoses in the U.S., one approximately every 19 minutes. The report concludes, “Since 2003, more overdose deaths have involved opioid analgesics than heroin and cocaine combined.”
Opioid analgesics are painkillers used to manage chronic pain or pain experienced after surgery. The most common opioids abused in the U.S. are hydrocodone, oxycodone and codeine.
Another study conducted in 2010 by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, found there were 7 million users of psychotherapeutic drugs taken non-medically, around 2.7 percent of the U.S. population. Among students in 12th grade, prescription and over the counter drugs were the most commonly used narcotics after marijuana.
While the U.S. and France have different health systems, one mostly private and one mostly public, they both struggle to curb the influence of the pharmaceutical industry. The new French President Francois Hollande has previously expressed the will to reform the health system, but continues to focus on other national problems, including high unemployment.
Hollande government reform
After winning office in May, Hollande promised to address a swath of issues, including removing French troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2012, endorsing same-sex marriage and creating a more progressive tax rate.
Many economists believe the biggest challenge facing the socialist president’s administration is unemployment. Reports published earlier this month indicate that the number of unemployed has surged past 3 million in France, the highest level since 1999. The unemployment rate currently stands at 10 percent. However many sources place the percentage higher.
This issue has contributed to Hollande’s waning popularity following the elections. According to recent opinion polls, the president’s popularity has dipped to 44 percent nationally, down from a high of 60 percent following his election.
The decreased popularity may hinder the president’s ability to effectively reform the pharmaceutical industry, something that will require significant reform of a powerful industry. The authors of the report believe that it will be difficult, but necessary to reform the pharmaceutical industry, the third most profitable industry,
“It has become interested only in the immediate, in short term gains. On Wall Street, the pharmaceutical industry is third after petrol and banking, and each year it increases by 20 percent. It’s more profitable than mining for diamonds,” the report contends.