OBJECTIVES: Europe faces shortages in the supply of life saving medicines such as immunoglobulins (Igs) and this can worsen in times of crisis such as Covid-19. To understand the full picture of Ig use in Europe, exhaustive national data at a patient level is required. This research explores France as an example using its centralised national claims database (SNDS).

METHODS: An exhaustive list of the Ig products used in France from 2015 to 2022 was established. An algorithm to extract hospital and ambulatory claims information from the SNDS was developed for all patients delivered Igs. The diagnosis (ICD10), diagnostic related group (for hospitalisations), dosage, volume (kg) and type of immunoglobulin (IV/SC) were extracted for each patient-prescription. The data was aggregated by family of disease according to the European Medicines Agency guidelines.

RESULTS: This is an exploratory study and first results show that between 2015 and 2019, the number of patients administered Ig increased in France on average by 4% per year but descended by 6% in 2020. A decreasing trend was observed in administration in hospitals compensated in part by an increase of usage in the ambulatory setting.

CONCLUSIONS: Accessing Ig dispensation data is cumbersome and impossible in many countries due to a lack of centralised databases and data protection laws. The French SNDS database is possibly unique in Europe in collecting and making available pseudonymised health information collected by public bodies. Certain organisations with a public service mission, listed by decree, have permanent access to SNDS data. Other countries could benefit from the French experience for detailed evidence based analysis of Ig usage.