This Tuesday, June 13, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron went to Ardèche. The Head of State has proposed a new plan for the production of medicines in France. He mentioned about fifty drugs whose production must be “relocated”. Twenty-five of them “will see their production relocated or significantly increased […] in the coming weeks”, added the head of state. The health sector is indeed hit by a structural shortage of imported products such as antibiotics and paracetamol.
“These relocations that have been talked about so much show that we have reversed the direction of history”, launched the Head of State on the site of the pharmaceutical laboratory Aguettant in Champagne, at the start of a week of dedicated meetings. the strengthening of French industrial and technological sovereignty. “This reindustrialization is underway”, he hammered on this theme which had already been the subject of a communication offensive in May to show that he was regaining control after the pension crisis, and which it seems want to make the common thread of its mandates.
Too many of us are facing shortages in our pharmacies. Whether for common and well-known drugs, as for life-saving treatments, the delays are sometimes too long and access too difficult. This is unacceptable…
This trip to the site of the Aguettant pharmaceutical laboratory, in Champagne, is the first in a series of presidential meetings devoted to strengthening French industrial and technological sovereignty, which will continue until next Monday. Emmanuel Macron thus intends to extend his communication offensive launched in May on the theme of reindustrialization in order to show that the page on pensions has been turned and that he is regaining control.
He reported an investment of 22 million euros from the British GSK to modernize its amoxicillin production site in Mayenne. This antibiotic, the most prescribed to children to treat infections, is regularly out of stock. The Head of State, who will be accompanied by Ministers Olivier Dussopt (Labour), François Braun (Health) and Roland Lescure (Industry), is expected at the end of the morning in Champagne for a visit to the laboratory. He will deliver a speech afterwards.
Antibiotics, paracetamol, antiepileptics, anticancer drugs… More and more drugs are running out of pharmacies, in France and elsewhere in Europe, causing growing concern among various players. According to the BVA study carried out for France Assos Santé in March 2023, 37% of French people have been faced with shortages in pharmacies, underlines the Elysée.
A problem partly linked to an excessive dependence on foreign countries. France depends 60 to 80% on imports, particularly from China, for the production of so-called mature drugs (antibiotics, anesthesia products, etc.), a threshold that rises to 95% for biomedicines.
To address these shortages, a list of 281 “critical” drugs, the production of which is likely to be relocated, was given to François Braun in mid-May. But it is still not published, raising many expectations in the sector. The president should provide details on its content on Tuesday. The Aguettant laboratory, a family group more than a century old, manufactures injectable drugs, in particular for anesthesia-resuscitation, which were also lacking during the Covid crisis.