France says to halt homeopathy pay-outs from 2021

France will stop reimbursing patients for homeopathic treatment from 2021, the health minister said in an interview published yesterday, infuriating manufacturers but also disappointing doctors who wanted an immediate halt.

Health Minister Agnes Buzyn, a former prominent doctor who has vowed to place scientific rigour at the heart of policy, said she had made the decision after a damning verdict on homeopathy by the national health authority published in June.

Buzyn said the refunds paid by French social security -- currently 30 percent of the treatment -- will be phased down to 15 percent in 2020 and then to zero in 2021.

“I have decided to start the process for complete non-reimbursement,” Buzyn told Le Parisien newspaper.

She said the transition period would allow both patients and pharmaceutical companies to adapt to the new system.

France’s National Authority for Health (HAS) had at the end of June concluded there was no benefit to alternative medicine, saying homeopathy had “not scientifically demonstrated sufficient effectiveness to justify a reimbursement”.