Launched in the summer of 2024 by Health Insurance, Asafo-Pharma has changed the way pharmacists detect fraud. Integrated into their Ameli-pro professional space, this tool allows them to instantly report a suspicious prescription and check if it has already been identified elsewhere.
Asafo-Pharma, constant vigilance
In one year, more than 15,000 suspicions were transmitted, and three out of four prescriptions turned out to be false documents after checking with the prescriber.
Behind these figures there is a discreet but decisive mobilization at play. Each report triggers a chain of alerts: the doctor is notified, the primary health insurance fund analyzes the file and surrounding pharmacies are informed. This collective vigilance makes the health system more responsive to traffic that extends across several departments in just a few hours.
Trafficking with very real consequences
These false documents are not just about financial fraud. They participate in drug trafficking whose effects sometimes directly affect patients. In 2024, more than 13 million euros of fraud were stopped, but some of these falsified prescriptions concerned vital or addictive treatments. Nearly 30% of the medications found on fake prescriptions concern diabetes: insulin, sensors, strips or antidiabetics. Other frequently misused products are powerful painkillers such as tramadol, codeine or buprenorphine, as well as pregabalin, an antiepileptic drug popular for its euphoric side effects.
In pharmacies, this trafficking sometimes has a face: that of a regular patient whose prescription has been falsified, or of a young person caught in the web of organized trafficking. Pharmacists find themselves on the front line, torn between the necessary distrust and the trust essential to the healthcare relationship.
Cooperation and hope for a safer system
Over the months, Asafo-Pharma has become much more than a database: a direct link between health professionals and Health Insurance. Since July 2025, the tool even allows pharmacists to indicate whether they have contacted the prescriber, thus avoiding duplication and unnecessary tension. The primary funds include their own discoveries: more than 3,700 false prescriptions identified during checks.
Health Insurance plans to go even further, with the integration of Asafo-Pharma into professionals’ business software. At the same time, six interregional centers of specialized judicial investigators are now tracking fraud networks on social networks and encrypted messaging. The objective: to stem a phenomenon which is no longer content with stealing medicines, but sometimes endangers lives.