Beyfortus, a treatment designed to immunise babies against the main virus causing bronchiolitis, is not sufficiently reimbursed, forcing many parents to give up on it, the main French paediatrician organisations regretted on Wednesday.
"This decision to limit reimbursement appears incomprehensible and unacceptable," said several organizations, including the French Pediatric Society (SFP) and the French Ambulatory Pediatrics Association (AFPA), in a joint press release.
Beyfortus is part of a series of innovative treatments that aim to prevent or limit infection with the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the main cause of bronchiolitis.
This particularly affects infants, in whom it causes an annual epidemic.
The epidemic has already started this year in mainland France, currently affecting the Paris region and Hauts-de-France according to a weekly report published on Wednesday by the public health agency, even if it remains moderate in scale compared to previous years.
Beyfortus (from AstraZeneca and Sanofi laboratories) had already been offered last year to many infants. At the time, the costs had been covered by the State, which had directly purchased doses from the laboratories.
But this year, the treatment is moving to a more traditional reimbursement, via Health Insurance. And this only reimburses it up to 30%, the rest being the responsibility of mutual insurance companies.
However, "many families, unable to pay the remaining co-payment, around 300 euros, (report) that several mutual insurance companies do not reimburse or only partially reimburse," the pediatricians point out.
For comparison, many childhood vaccines are reimbursed at 65% and the measles vaccine is fully reimbursed.
The lower reimbursement of Beyfortus results from an evaluation by the High Authority of Health (HAS) which qualified its medical service rendered as “moderate”.
The HAS, which updated its opinion on Wednesday, took into account the data recorded last season, showing a clear drop in hospitalizations thanks to Beyfortus. But it also notes a lack of evidence on the most serious consequences for hospitals to manage, in particular intensive care admissions.
Furthermore, despite the concerns of pediatricians, Sanofi estimated at the end of October that one in two eligible babies had already received Beyfortus.
In addition, another preventive treatment is available, Abrysvo from Pfizer, which is given directly to the pregnant woman and is fully reimbursed as part of pregnancy care.
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