Grandstand. For several years now, there has been an increasing number of production disruptions and shortages of essential drugs. These products for which there is no possible alternative alternative are called “drugs of major therapeutic interest” (MITM). Their production had been transferred abroad, most often to the Far East, which now encourages relocation to France to overcome these problems. It is within this framework that the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced, in mid-February, the financing of sixteen projects presented by national manufacturers.
Among these projects, that of Servier, which it was planned to subsidize to the tune of 800,000 euros, concerned the production of five drugs that did not yet meet the MITM criteria (several of these products were ineffective, and even dangerous). The very bad reputation of Servier – linked to the Mediator scandal, but also to a fine of 228 million euros by the European courts for obstructing the arrival on the generic market of one of its products and to the absence for years of production of any interesting therapeutic innovation – was responsible for a rapid outcry.
If, fortunately, the government finally decided to cancel this subsidy of 800,000 euros, the minister delegate in charge of industry, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, seemed to regret the thing by specifying that the investment project presented by Servier “corresponded well to the specifications of the “Relocation” call for projects. »
It is therefore necessary to ask the question of the validity of these specifications, and more generally of what should be relocated and the method to be used.
Industrial disinterest
What to relocate? When the government says that France should regain its “pharmaceutical sovereignty”, he seems to envisage the local production of both recent therapeutic innovations and old drugs that have passed into the public domain. However, recent drugs are the property of pharmaceutical laboratories, most often foreign, with a license that is still valid, and their place of production depends on the goodwill of their holder. It should also be noted that these therapeutic innovations, because generally very lucrative, are not subject to shortages.
On the other hand, old drugs, which are “generic”, have a lower profit margin, which explains why the pharmaceutical industry loses interest in them and relocates the production of active ingredients abroad and subcontracts the production of finished product by independent shaping structures. It is these old drugs, still representing the bulk of the therapeutic range, which, due to a complex and disorderly production, are subject to supply disruptions. As production takes place in a just-in-time economy, the slightest disruption in supply results in a shortage from which patients suffer. After months of shortages, these drugs often only reappear after their prices have skyrocketed. It is these drugs, old but essential (cancer drugs, antibiotics, corticosteroids, vaccines, etc.), whose production can and must be relocated.
You have 38.31% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.