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Tuesday June 13, the President of the Republic presented in Ardèche a plan to relocalize the production of medicines in France. Around fifty so-called “essential” medicines are concerned. Among them, 25 will see their production relocated or increase significantly in the coming weeks.
“What we experienced (…), we must not reproduce it”, declared Emmanuel Macron during a trip to Ardèche to present a plan to relocalize the production of medicines in France. The Head of State refers to the shortage of certain medications in French pharmacies. This upcoming relocation concerns in particular paracetamol, amoxicillin, morphine, certain anticancer drugs and certain drugs used in the treatment of chronic conditions affecting a large population.
Effects that we won’t see right away…
The relocation of the production of 50 drugs to France will take between several months and several years. “If it is a question of putting new equipment in a factory so that it produces more, it takes a few months, because you have to order the equipment, validate it and have it qualified by the health authorities. If a new building has to be built, you can imagine all the necessary authorizations, it could take two or three years. If we build a factory from a field, it could take four or five years“, explained on franceinfo Thierry Hulot, president of the professional organization of Pharmaceutical Companies (LEEM) and CEO of Meerk France.
Questioned by Doctissimo, Renaissance MP Jean-Carles Grelier, specialist in health issues, confirms that the effects of this relocation will not be visible in the short term with “a probable shortage of medicines next winter”. The MP assures, however, that this announcement by the president represents “a colossal step” towards pharmaceutical laboratories, many of which have chosen, over the last twenty years, to relocate their production to countries with low labor costs and subject to less demanding regulations than in France. “The State must rebuild ties of trust with the pharmaceutical industry”he assures.
A list of 450 drugs under close surveillance
Yesterday afternoon, following Emmanuel Macron’s announcements, the Ministry of Health published an (evolving) list of essential medicines.to meet the priority needs of the French”. This list of 450 drugs should serve as a working basis for the development of a shortage management plan (while waiting to see the effects of the drug production relocation plan).
These are drugs of major therapeutic interest and for which France is highly dependent on production sites located outside Europe. “This concerns treatments that cannot be interrupted by patients because this could endanger their health”, points out Jean-Carles Grelier.
Stocks of these drugs will be closely monitored to anticipate a possible shortage and thus put in place measures to avoid it. The drug shortage management plan, which must be unveiled “in the coming weeks”, will aim to ensure the availability of at least one essential drug in each class of drug for a given pathology.