Vitiligo: First official treatment available in France

Vitiligo is neither contagious nor painful, but it is still difficult to live with. Learning to accept the progressive depigmentation of the skin often takes time, and sometimes takes a psychological basis, sometimes very visible on the face or hands. The good news: Patients suffering from this autoimmune disease will benefit from the first official treatment reimbursed by health insurance, according to a decree published Wednesday in the Official Journal.

This treatment concerns Opzelura cream, developed by the American laboratory Insight Biosciences, for the treatment of non-segmental vitiligo with facial involvement in adults and adolescents over 12 years of age.

Experimental measurements

It intervenes within the framework of the so-called “direct access” system, an experimental measure included in the social security financing law from 2022 so that certain medicines reach French patients more quickly.

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. Former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe suffers from it and opened up about it at a Paris match in June 2020. Winnie Harlow, suffering from vitiligo since the age of 4, played on her illness by becoming the face of the Spanish brand Desigual.

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 lead to “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 for 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.

Repigmentation that can reach 75% after six months

Opzelura treatment is already available in the United States, Germany and Austria. “The patient will have to seek treatment at the hospital’s pharmacy” during the direct access period, the manufacturer’s spokeswoman in France, Claire Lherito-Kelme, told AFP.

By applying the cream twice a day, “the patient will see gradual repigmentation until about 75% repigmentation is achieved, usually after six months,” she added. 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.