After the publication of a very critical Senate report on drug policy in France, Pauline Londeix, co-founder of the Observatory of Transparency in Drug Policy believes that “there is no one to really lead the policy pharmaceutical company of France”.
“We can talk about bankruptcy. We too can see that there is unfortunately no longer a pilot on the plane and that is absolutely dramatic.“, reacted Thursday, July 6 on franceinfo Pauline Londeix, co-founder of the observatory of transparency in drug policies, after the publication of a Senate report on drug shortages in France. After five months of investigation and more than fifty hearings of health actors, the senators draw up an observation “alarming” on the question of medicines in France. “The consequences of the analysis carried out by this commission of inquiry overlap with all the work that we have been able to do“, at the level of the observatory, explains Pauline Londeix.
>>> “More than 3,000 drugs are in shortage”, warns the president of the Senate committee of inquiry into the shortage of drugs
franceinfo: Have you also declared the drug policy in France bankrupt?
Pauline Londeix : Absolutely, because unfortunately, the consequences of the analysis carried out by this commission of inquiry really overlap with all the work that we have been able to do and all that we have been able to analyse. And indeed, we can speak of bankruptcy. We too can see that there is unfortunately no longer a pilot on the plane and that is absolutely tragic. I really believe that what must be learned from this commission of inquiry is that it is not just our organization that does this, it is not just civil society, it is the senators of different political persuasions who have conducted 50 hearings, who have worked for six months and who come to the same conclusions.
Does the state have the means to change things?
Absolutely, the state has the means to regain control of drug policies. We have been saying that for years. That is to say that beyond the questions that appear very complex, in reality there is a very simple question, it is the fundamental right to health, what medicines do we need and how can we produce them on our territory or in consultation with other European countries or even other continents. Some countries, I am thinking of Brazil, have managed to do this. And so if Brazil can do it, one can imagine that a country like France or a continent like Europe can do it.
Are we taking the path?
Our observation is that we are very far from taking the path. We are rather in the opposite dynamic, that is to say to let the firms do absolutely what they want. I believe that the report of the commission of inquiry really insisted on the absence of conditionality in the public aid that multinational firms receive.
“We give public aid for research and development for production, but there are no counterparties that are asked of these firms. It’s really a problem.”
Pauline Londeixat franceinfo
The senators are in favor of a general secretariat for medicines. What would that change?
It seems really interesting to us because we have the impression that there is no one to really lead France’s pharmaceutical policy at the public level, which is really problematic. So, that there is at some point a coordination, a secretariat, that seems very interesting to us. On the other hand, it will be necessary to pay attention to the composition of this secretariat because the links of interest and the conflicts of interest in all the interministerial missions which have been put in place seem to us to be really problematic. We must also pay attention to the use of private consulting firms because that too leads to recommendations and actions on the part of the State which are not necessarily adequate with what is needed to carry out pharmaceutical policies in France.