French people with vitiligo now have access to compensatory treatment

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French people with vitiligo now have access to compensatory treatment

Health – Patients suffering from vitiligo, an autoimmune disease that causes progressive depigmentation of the skin, will benefit from the first official treatment reimbursed by health insurance, according to a decree published this Wednesday, January 31, in the Official Journal.

This treatment is related to Opzelura cream developed by the American laboratory Insight Biosciences. “Nonsegmental vitiligo with facial involvement in adults and adolescents over 12 years of age”.According to the text.

It works within the framework of a system known as “ direct access », from 2022 the social security financing law includes an experimental measure so that certain medicines reach French patients more quickly.

a “Significant impairment in quality of life”

Vitiligo causes progressive breakdown of the skin’s pigment-producing cells (melanocytes) leading to depigmentation in the form of white patches on the face and body.

The French Vitiligo Association estimates that around 1 to 2% of the world’s population is affected by this highly visible chronic disease that can result. “Significant changes in quality of life, relationships with others and with oneself”. According to Insight Biosciences, which employs 2,500 staff, including 50 in France, more than a million people in France are affected by this pathology.

Opzelura received a valid marketing authorization throughout the European Union in April. In October, the High Authority of Health issued a favorable opinion for its reimbursement. The pharmaceutical company then requested the Ministry of Health for direct access, i.e. without waiting for price negotiations. Opzelura treatment is already available in the United States, Germany and Austria.

Repigmentation of “ progressive path »

“The patient must seek treatment at the hospital pharmacy” During the direct access period, the manufacturer’s spokeswoman in France, Claire Lehriteau-Kelme, told AFP.

By applying the cream twice a day, “The patient will be gradually recovered”She added, referring to the results of a phase III study in which about 31% of patients showed facial improvement six months after treatment.

In December, a treatment for hemophilia B, marketed by CSL Behring Laboratories under the name Hemgenix, was the first indication of direct access coverage in France.

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