In the meantime, in June 2009, France's third largest insurance company, AGF-Allianz, signed an agreement with a pharmacy grouping (representing a third of the country's pharmacies) for the reimbursement of a number of OTC medicines from the end of the month. Reimbursement of some 1,000 OTCs indicated for the total of 43 health conditions (including cough and cold) will be provided for those citizens who have signed up for complimentary health insurance. In the coming years, up to 3,000 more products could be subject to a status switch, which should lead to both the volume growth of the OTC market, but also to a higher degree of price competition, to the detriment of values. However, previous experience showed that the prices of some OTCs rose once they were removed from the reimbursement list, and therefore the full impact of the recent developments is yet to be felt.

In terms of company news, French stalwart Sanofi-Aventis acquired Pfizer's Diabel manufacturing plant in Germany, one of largest state-of-the-art insulin manufacturing plants in the world. Sanofi's product portfolio already includes successful insulin therapies such as Apidra (insulin glulisine) and Lantus (insulin glargine), with the latter also being developed for other indications. Sanofi-Aventis's vaccine arm Sanofi Pasteur recently signed an agreement with Delphi Genetics for the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals using the latter's StabyExpress technology, with a view to promote its longer-term investments in the biotechnological sector. The company is already a global leader in vaccines, which may provide it with a welcome stay in the face of the upcoming patent cliff.

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