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HEALTH

France halts sale of contraceptive pill

France has suspended sales of an acne drug whose use as a birth control pill has been linked to the deaths of four women.

France halts sale of contraceptive pill
File photo of pills. Photo: E-magine art/Flickr

It is the latest health scare to erupt in France, coming after controversies involving later-generation contraceptive pills, breast implants and a pill used as a dietary aid that was linked to heart failure.

On Wednesday, the National Agency for the Safety of Drugs and Health Products (ANSM) said it was suspending sales of a hormonal treatment called Diane-35, which is currently prescribed to 315,000 women in France.

The move will be phased in over three months to allow users to find an alternative drug, Dominique Maraninchi, the agency's director, told a press conference.

The product, made by the German firm Bayer, is authorized for treating acne in young women, but doctors have been prescribing it as a contraceptive because it stops ovulation, he said.

"This drug is not licensed for use as a contraceptive," Maraninchi said. "(…) But it is being used as such, in this secondary role… yet there are plenty of other alternative contraceptives that can be used in this country."

Maraninchi said the agency had also carried out a benefit-versus-risk assessment for Diane-35 on the basis of its use as an acne treatment. The assessment was negative, which explains why the drug is being suspended from the French market, he said.

Diane-35 is sold in 116 countries around the world, according to the ANSM website. Over 25 years, four women have died and 125 fallen ill from blood clots attributed to Diane-35, according to ANSM.

France has been shaken by a series of health scares in recent years. It has asked the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to change prescription guidelines for so-called third- and fourth-generation oral contraceptives after these drugs were found to carry a higher risk of blood clots compared to earlier versions.

In 2010, the French authorities called down breast implant manufacturer Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) after it was found to be using non-authorized silicone gel that caused a high rate of implant ruptures. Health experts disagree on the risks, though.

Another scandal concerns an anti-diabetes drug called Mediator, manufactured by the French pharmaceutical company Servier, which started being used as a slimming aid because it reduces hunger pangs.

The drug was pulled off the market in 2009 after evidence emerged of hundreds of deaths caused by damage to heart valves.

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HEALTH

Lengthy waiting times at Danish hospitals not going away yet: minister

Danish Minister for the Interior and Health Sophie Løhde has warned that, despite increasing activity at hospitals, it will be some time before current waiting lists are reduced.

Lengthy waiting times at Danish hospitals not going away yet: minister

The message comes as Løhde was set to meet with officials from regional health authorities on Wednesday to discuss the progress of an acute plan for the Danish health system, launched at the end of last year in an effort to reduce a backlog of waiting times which built up during the coronavirus crisis.

An agreement with regional health authorities on an “acute” spending plan to address the most serious challenges faced by the health services agreed in February, providing 2 billion kroner by the end of 2024.

READ ALSO: What exactly is wrong with the Danish health system?

The national organisation for the health authorities, Danske Regioner, said to newspaper Jyllands-Posten earlier this week that progress on clearing the waiting lists was ahead of schedule.

Some 245,300 operations were completed in the first quarter of this year, 10 percent more than in the same period in 2022 and over the agreed number.

Løhde said that the figures show measures from the acute plan are “beginning to work”.

“It’s positive but even though it suggests that the trend is going the right way, we’re far from our goal and it’s important to keep it up so that we get there,” she said.

“I certainly won’t be satisfied until waiting times are brought down,” she said.

“As long as we are in the process of doing postponed operations, we will unfortunately continue to see a further increase [in waiting times],” Løhde said.

“That’s why it’s crucial that we retain a high activity this year and in 2024,” she added.

Although the government set aside 2 billion kroner in total for the plan, the regional authorities expect the portion of that to be spent in 2023 to run out by the end of the summer. They have therefore asked for some of the 2024 spending to be brought forward.

Løhde is so far reluctant to meet that request according to Jyllands-Posten.

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