At the start of the year, the worsening of the Covid-19 epidemic in China worries French pharmacists. Faced with the difficulties of the Chinese population to find certain drugs, for example against fever, Beijing requisitioned the production of certain pharmaceutical companies at the end of December.
These requisitions raised fears of repercussions on the supply of medicines in France. Because many of the active ingredients of the products consumed in France come from China.
For now, Beijing’s requisition orders allow Chinese companies to export enough to France. But pharmacists fear the future consequences of spike in Covid-19 cases in Chinaexplains Philippe Besset, of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France.
The fear is ” on the one hand, a disorganization of factories manufacturing medicines and health products. China is the medicine factory of the world. The second is that China risks becoming protectionist and reserving products for its own needs that are normally reserved for export. he says.
Other supplier countries
French drug manufacturers claim to have other supplier countries: Brazil, India or Turkey. Health authorities, meanwhile, monitor supply chains. And support measures for pharmacists have been adopted.
There is ” for example, to allow specialized pharmacies – there are a hundred of them in the country – to manufacture their own medicines. But also, a lot of measures, in particular to tell doctors to really prescribe by checking that it is really necessary, by limiting consumption, in particular prohibiting the sale of paracetamol on the internet “, emphasizes Philippe Besset.
The situation is already tense regarding drugs such as paracetamol or amoxicillin, in high demand due to the triple winter epidemic of Covid, flu and bronchiolitis.
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