FRANCE — Half of France’s drugs are ‘useless’ and five percent are dangerous, says two top French doctors, Philippe Even and Bernard Debré. The doctors believe the pharmaceutical industry is forcing ineffective drugs on the market, costing taxpayers up to ten billion euros a year. Philippe Even, former head of the Necker Hospital in Paris, and Bernard Debré, doctor and member of parliament for the UMP party, released their findings in a co-authored book titled “The Guide to 4,000 Useful, Useless or Dangerous Medicines.”
Even and Debré reviewed 4,000 French drugs and found that 50 percent were ‘useless,’ 20 percent were ‘badly tolerated’ and five percent had adverse effects. The two further claim that France could save up to ten billion euros a year by halting social security reimbursements for drugs that are hazardous or have no health value.
The pharmaceutical industry is “the most lucrative, most cynical and least ethical of all the industries,” Dr. Even said. He claims that in order to reduce budget shortfalls in France’s healthcare system, “one simply has to take the dangerous, useless and ineffective medicines off the market.”
“The Guide to 4,000 Useful, Useless or Dangerous Medicines” was written in light of a Mediator Affaire report Dr. Even and Dr. Debré conducted in 2011 for former President Nicolas Sarkozy, where they investigated an incident where some 2,000 people were killed by a prescribed diabetic drug before the medicine was taken off the market.
Their report stated that the French medical system was in dire need of reform, spurring Dr. Even and Dr. Debré to write their book.
The two made a list of drugs that pose health risks, including cardiovascular, anti-inflammatory and anti-smoking drugs, and contraceptive pills.
Statins, drugs taken to lower cholesterol, were just one of the many drugs found to be “completely useless,” Dr. Even said in an interview with Le Nouvel Observateur. “[Statins] are taken by three to five million French people, which costs France two million euros per year.”