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France is no longer on the podium of drug production and finds itself dependent for many molecules. Can the strategy of the Head of State, who is committed to bringing back the production of 50 drugs, pay off?
One in three French people has already been confronted with drug shortages. Pharmacists are worried about it. In 2023, 3,000 reports of medicines in tension were made, six times more than five years ago. China and India produce 80% of the active ingredients, such as paracetamol. “If there is the slightest concern upstream, even if we imagine new manufacturers, new manufacturing phases, we will be dependent on this raw material”warns Jérôme Martin, co-founder of the Observatory of transparency in drug policies.
Eight new factory projects
An addiction that Emmanuel Macron wants to end: he announced that he wanted to repatriate the production of 50 drugs. Among them, amoxicillin and six anti-cancer drugs. Eight new projects have been announced, including one in Calais, for 160 million euros. But for Philip Bessetpresident of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France, this reality will not be visible “before five or ten years. For Frederic weirdhealth economist, “a relocation is not done by presidential injunction. If a private actor has no interest in producing, he will not produce.“In other words, relocation will cause drug prices to rise.