While the shortage of certain drugs continues in France, an illicit practice is growing in the capital and risks causing new supply tensions. In the columns of BFMTV, Bruno Maleine, president of the central council of pharmacists, talks about “a public health issue”.
In mid-December 2023, the medicines safety agency (ANSM) observed a significant deterioration in stocks of amoxicillin in France, an antibiotic frequently prescribed in the treatment of winter viruses such as influenza, for the second year in a row. This shortage of medicines has pushed manufacturers to increase production and healthcare professionals to adapt the way they work to prescribe solutions to their patients.
This Wednesday, February 28, 2024, our colleagues from BFMTV report an illegal practice which is growing in the streets of Paris and which could well further degrade the stocks of medicines available in France. Near the Barbès-Rochechouart metro station located in the 18th arrondissement of the capital, a place known to Parisians for hosting an illicit tobacco trade, receivers exchanged cigarette cartons for boxes of medicine.
The rest after this ad
Shortage of medicines: illicit sales on the rise in the capital
This is what the images recorded by our colleagues at BFMTV sent to the site, where we can see an individual offering Lyricaa medicine used in the treatment of neuropathic pain or epilepsy, to passers-by. This medication, sold for around 20 euros in pharmacies, can be exchanged here for the sum of 5 euros. An unbeatable price likely to explain why these illegal sales are growing in the capital.
“There are three main sources for this deal: there are factories, where employees directly collect these goods, also falsified prescriptions and then also sometimes, more marginally, doctors or pharmacists are complicit.” explains Kévin Havet, PS deputy to the mayor of the 18th arrondissement of Paris in charge of security, in front of the cameras of our colleagues from BFMTV. The consequence of this parallel market: increasing the shortage of medicines in pharmacies across France.
The rest after this ad
Supply tensions
A situation feared by the medical profession. “The danger is that this puts supply pressure, or even shortage (of stock) of these drugs which are essential for the patients who are being treated, so there is really a public health issue”, fears Bruno Maleine, president of the Central Council of pharmacists holding pharmacies. Traffic which has a cost for health insurance: damage estimated at 7.6 million euros in 2023.
A journalist passionate about social issues and current affairs, Hugo puts his pen at the service of information. Interested in all themes, from the impact of artificial intelligence on…