Pharmacists expressed their relief on Tuesday after the reinstatement, for at least three months, of the ceiling on commercial discounts that laboratories can grant them on generic drugs, according to a decree published in the Official Journal.
A previous decree, dated August 4, had capped the commercial discounts on generic drugs at 30% of the price excluding taxes of these products, instead of 40% previously, as of September 1.
The government had decided that this ceiling should gradually decrease to reach 20% by the beginning of July 2027.
This text had triggered a backlash from community pharmacists for whom the rebates granted by laboratories – intended to encourage the dispensing of generic drugs, cheaper than the originals – generate a significant source of income.
Published on Tuesday, a new decree dated October 6th thus provisionally reinstates, until December 31, 2025, the 40% authorized discount on the price of generic drugs, this three-month suspension being able to be extended.
Regarding biosimilars, this new decree maintains the creation of a ceiling of 15% rebates to develop substitutable biosimilar medicines.
The text provides that the ceiling for discounts on generics and certain specialties will increase to 30% from January 1, 2026. The setting of a single ceiling, for all medicines combined, at 20% in 2027 has been removed.
“If this initial victory is legally recognized, it is now up to us to use this transitional period to build a new remuneration model for pharmacies,” the Federation of Community Pharmacists (FSPF) stated in a press release. This leading union will ask the next government to launch this work “without delay.”
Also hailing a "first victory", the other major pharmacists' union, the Union of Pharmacy Unions (USPO), said it was "already mobilized" to ensure that "the transition to 30%" of these discounts, planned "on a transitional basis for January 1, 2026" by the decree published on Tuesday, is "abandoned definitively".
Pharmacists had been mobilizing for several months – strikes on duty with refusal of third-party payment in case of requisition, closure on August 16, massive strike on September 18 – to protest against this measure, pointing to consequences for employment for the most fragile pharmacies, in rural areas.
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