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Spotlight

Every month, the subjects in Prescrire’s Spotlight.

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Spotlight

100 most recent
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Stand strong together

Editorial Looking at current events in France, Europe, and around the world in 2025, these are uncertain, even menacing, times, as was already the case in many countries in 2024. The global consensus forged after World War II is under threat; free trade agreements that were supposed to contribute to peace and prosperity were torn up from one day to the next by the president of the very country that imposed them on the rest of the world.
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1 December 2025

Attenuated chikungunya vaccine (Ixchiq°)

Marketing Authorisations The first chikungunya vaccine to have been authorised in the European Union is a live attenuated virus derived from a strain isolated on Reunion Island in 2006. Is this vaccine effective at preventing chikungunya infections and their complications? Does it slow transmission during an epidemic? Is it useful for travellers visiting an area where chikungunya is endemic? And what are its adverse effects?
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1 December 2025

Iptacopan (Fabhalta°) in paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria

Marketing Authorisations Paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria is a rare, potentially fatal condition in which patients produce red blood cells that are unusually susceptible to haemolysis. Treatment is mainly based on blood transfusions and intravenous eculizumab or ravulizumab. Iptacopan has been authorised in the European Union as an oral treatment for adults with paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria with haemolytic anaemia.
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1 December 2025

Weekly methotrexate: evaluation of risk minimisation measures commissioned by the European Medicines Agency

Outlook The European Medicines Agency (EMA) recently commissioned a private company to evaluate the "risk minimisation measures" it has introduced to reduce errors related to taking or injecting methotrexate at daily instead of weekly intervals. The impact of these measures was found to be modest at best.
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1 December 2025

Pregnancy and "disease-modifying" drugs for multiple sclerosis: what are the consequences for the unborn child?

Adverse effects Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system that usually follows a relapsing-remitting course. It often affects women and generally starts between the ages of 20 and 40 years. As of 2025, what is known about the consequences for the unborn child of exposure to the main disease-modifying drugs currently authorised in France for use in pregnant women with multiple sclerosis? This article reviews the main data we identified through our literature search.
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1 December 2025

Drug residues in water: the pharmaceutical industry haggling over their removal

Editorial Among various European directives on water pollution, the revised Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive came into force in early 2025. The pharmaceutical industry is seeking to dodge its obligations.
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1 November 2025

Gefapixant (Lyfnua°) in refractory or unexplained chronic cough

Marketing Authorisations Gefapixant, an antagonist of the purinergic receptors P2X3 and P2X2/3, has been authorised in the European Union for use in adults with refractory or unexplained chronic cough. Does gefapixant alleviate the symptoms or complications of chronic cough? Does it stop patients from coughing or reduce cough frequency? And what are its adverse effects?
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1 November 2025

Alectinib (Alecensa°) as first-line treatment in advanced or metastatic ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer

Marketing Authorisations The initial marketing authorisation for the use of alectinib in patients with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer harbouring an ALK mutation was based on the preliminary results of two comparative randomised trials, called "Alex" and "Alur". More results from these trials, with longer follow-up, have become available since the evaluation published in our French edition in 2018.
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1 November 2025

Semaglutide (Wegovy°) in excess body weight: sometimes useful for patients who also have a history of cardiovascular disease

Marketing Authorisations The glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonist semaglutide was authorised in the European Union in 2021 for use in certain patients with overweight or obesity. At that time, in the absence of the results of the ongoing "Select" trial evaluating the effect of semaglutide versus placebo on the cardiovascular complications of excess body weight, it was preferable that these patients not count on this drug and that the focus be placed instead on a comprehensive (non-pharmacological) approach. Results from the Select trial were published in a scientific journal in 2023, and then presented in Prescrire International. In 2024, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which have access to far more data than those presented in medical journals, published their public reports on the Select trial online.
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1 November 2025

Drug-induced impulse control disorders: an insight into the devastating effects on patients' lives

Adverse Effects An analysis of reports of adverse drug reactions involving pramipexole or aripiprazole, recorded in the US pharmacovigilance database, showed that 7.5% and 4.5% of reports, respectively, included an impulse control disorder such as pathological gambling, hypersexuality, impulsivity, compulsive shopping or hyperphagia.
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1 November 2025

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