France calls on a global regulation of innovative cancer treatments costs

This tied in with a visit by President Hollande, the South African President Jacob Zuma and the French Minister of Health Marisol Touraine to the Institute of Haematology and Paediatric Oncology at the Centre Léon-Bérard in Lyon.

In efforts to put the issue on the global agenda the French President's plan is to engage price fixing authorities and pharmaceuticals in dialogue on a global scale.

"We are engaged in a fight which is to enable access for all to the most innovative therapies and ensure that drug prices can be controlled and regulated all over the world, so that patients can be treated with dignity and hope,” said the French President before adding "in a democracy, it cannot be said to a person, regardless of his/her income level, origins, life pathway: you cannot be treated and cured because it is too expensive. We need to act internationally and that is what we will do."

"We cannot continue to pay such prices if we want to maintain equity and solidarity in the health system," say people close to the President, referring not only to cancer medicines but also to new treatments for hepatitis C, or the new anti-diabetics, less expensive but needed by a very large number of people.

For more information, please read the article on lemonde.fr (only available in French).