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Four years after Glaxo made its first application to market sumatriptan in France the antimigraine drug is still not available in pharmacies - at least, not legally. But an agreement between Glaxo's French subsidiary and the French ministry of health and social affairs may enable doctors to prescribe the drug and some patients to be partly reimbursed for it through the social security system. The problem is money. Glaxo originally wanted to charge Fr170 (about £20) for an injectable dose and Fr90 (£10.50) for an oral dose. Last year the ministry said that if the price and the prescription of sumatriptan were not regulated the annual bill could reach Fr10bn (£1.2bn) instead of the less than Fr1bn mentioned in earlier studies.