pediatric drug shortages worry professionals

Winter under pressure in pediatricians’ offices. “We talk a lot about the hospital, but, in town, I assure you that it is not easy”, insists Brigitte Virey, president of the National Union of French Pediatricians. In question, the superimposition of the influenza and bronchiolitis epidemics which multiply the consultations and overtime, but also the shortage of the two flagship drugs in the management of pediatric pathologies: paracetamol and amoxicillin in oral form.

Tensions in the supply of paracetamol began at the start of the year, with the explosion of cases of Covid-19 and influenza. It was then the adult form, 1000 mg tablets of Doliprane, produced by Sanofi, which was difficult to find. The supply disruption now affects pediatric forms, more specifically Doliprane 2.4%, recognizable by its pink bottle and graduated syringe making it easier to administer to young children, and suppositories of the same brand.

It is in fact among children that demand is exploding today, due to an exceptional bronchiolitis epidemic, the peak of which has far exceeded those of the last five years, and more generally to an increase in infections .

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Why is the bronchiolitis epidemic so strong this year?

The offer does not follow. Since almost all pharmaceutical raw materials are now produced in India and China, health restrictions and the epidemic wave currently affecting Chinese territory are necessarily slowing down global production. In addition, the war in Ukraine has repercussions on the production of glass, cardboard and aluminum, all three necessary for the packaging of medicines, whether in the form of syrup, powder or tablets.

Added to this is the monopoly, in pediatric forms of paracetamol, of Sanofi, which experienced a social movement for a month. The Lisieux plant (Calvados), where paracetamol is processed and canned, has never stopped working. But, in fact, the precious bottles arrive drop by drop in pharmacies. “I have ten boxes to spend the weekend, I will fight with the parents, half jokes Philippe Besset, president of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France, who exercises in Limoux, in the Aude. And I don’t know how we’re going to spend the month of January. » Only the Upsa laboratory produces other pediatric forms, distributed in very small quantities. By domino effect, their products are also under tension.

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