Due to the increase in the number of positive cases of Covid-19 in China, the supply of drugs is difficult in France. The Covars are worried about it.
By The Point.fr
© PIERRE ROUANET / MAXPPP / PHOTOPQR/VOIX DU NORTH/MAXPPP
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HAShen the epidemics of influenza, Covid-19 and bronchiolitis weigh heavily on saturated emergencies and doctors are on strike, France lacks paracetamol. The shortage of medicines hitting French pharmacies is directly linked to the release of the zero Covid strategy in China which has led to an increase in cases. A surge in contaminations which causes a lack of human resources in the factories manufacturing these remedies. The situation is considered worrying by the health authorities, starting with Brigitte Autran, president of the Committee for monitoring and anticipating health risks (Covars), who succeeded the Scientific Council at work at the start of the pandemic. Asked about BFMTV, Tuesday evening, she believes that “there is a paracetamol problem in France”.
In addition to the lack of personnel in Chinese factories, China is requisitioning the production of certain pharmaceutical companies, at a time when millions of Chinese are struggling to obtain basic drugs to treat themselves in the face of an unprecedented wave of Covid-19. In the midst of a shortage, at least a dozen pharmaceutical companies have been ordered to “guarantee the supply” of drugs, the news channel reports.
Increase in requests
According to Brigitte Autran, supply difficulties are not felt only in France, but “throughout Europe”. “I hope that all the measures that are being developed in Europe to try to become independent will become effective,” says the president of Covars. Pharmaceutical companies, in particular, are facing an explosion in demand. From January to November 2022, Sanofi observed a 47% increase in delivery requests for Doliprane in the pediatric range from French pharmacies.
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For paracetamol, the situation is still “complex”, and will take “a little time to normalize on pediatric forms”, indicated the Ministry of Health during a press briefing on December 14. On the other forms for adults, “the situation has become more comfortable”, he specified.
New government measure
The government banned, this Wednesday, January 4, until the end of January the online sale of paracetamol-based products. “The sale via the Internet of specialties composed exclusively of paracetamol is suspended until January 31, 2023”, decreed the government in a decree published in the Official Journal. This decision takes note of the fact that “the tensions in paracetamol-based medicines have been continuing for more than six months”, in particular for the forms intended for children. “The various measures taken by the health authorities, however effective they may have been, have not so far made it possible to put an end to it”, recognizes the decree.
The National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) had implemented several measures to respond to the tensions, including the search for sources of imports and the obligation for paracetamol manufacturers to sell their products directly to pharmaceutical distributors in order to promote a fairer distribution in France. In 2021, Emmanuel Macron announced a health sovereignty plan, including the relocation to France of the active ingredient paracetamol.