PARACETAMOL. Doliprane, Dafalgan or Fervex. Their common point? All contain paracetamol, the shortage of which is currently making headlines. The government has taken a radical decision to try to remedy this.
[Mise à jour le 4 janvier 2023 à 19h17] Direct consequence of the outbreak of Covid-19 cases in China, after the sudden lifting of health restrictions which were particularly strict there: paracetamol is now running out… in France. The Middle Kingdom indeed concentrates half of the world production of this product which has the ability to lower the temperature in humans. However, fever is one of the main symptoms of Covid-19. To cope with the situation which has been deteriorating in recent weeks, Beijing has therefore forced certain factories to stop exports of paracetamol. Objective: not to run out of stock in the midst of a wave of coronavirus.
In this context, the French government has chosen to ban the sale of paracetamol online. In a decree published in the Official Journal this Wednesday, January 4, it is thus decreed that “the sale by Internet of specialties composed exclusively of paracetamol is suspended until January 31, 2023”. The decree recognizes, moreover, that “the tensions […] have been going on for more than six months” and that “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”.
How to get paracetamol?
France – but not only – therefore finds itself aggrieved. So how do you get paracetamol? First of all, it should be noted that there are very many drugs containing this molecule. If the best known remains Doliprane, Actifed, Dafalgan or Fervex are also part of this range. At least 16 different drugs are based on paracetamol: Actifed, Actron, Algicalm, Algodol, Claradol, Codoliprane, Dafalgan, Dextropropox, Doliprane, Dolirhume, Efferalgan, Febrectol, Fervex, Humex, Paracetamol codeine, Rhumagrip, Tramadol. Don’t panic if you can’t find your usual medication, there are plenty of others that can replace it and produce the same effects.
If pharmacists indicate that they deliver these various remedies in droplets in order to be able to meet demand, it should be noted that the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) maintains a dashboard, accessible in online, on product availability. To date, supply tensions are reported on “all oral forms and suppositories” of paracetamol. Pharmacies therefore have them, but stocks are lower than usual.
Online sales prohibited
Thereby, a stop published this Wednesday in the Official Journal announces the suspension of the sale of paracetamol on the Internet until January 31, “considering that tensions in paracetamol-based medicines have continued for more than six months, with marked supply tensions for pediatric forms”. The government also justifies its decision by “the uncertainties over the coming weeks related to the health situation in China [qui] pose a risk of aggravation of tensions in the supply of specialties composed exclusively of paracetamol.