France will boost its domestic drug production with 50 new medicines, with production for half of them set to begin in the next few weeks, said French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, attracting strong criticism for his vague announcements meant to tackle the country’s worrying drug shortage.
To address France’s ongoing drug shortage problem which in 2023 has affected 37% of French people according to a France Assos Santé study, the government will establish a list of 450 essential medicines at risk of shortage.
Morphine, amoxicillin and six anticancer drugs were mentioned among the 50 drugs France picked to have produced in France as a priority, for a total investment of €160 million.
However, because local production will not be effective immediately, Macron acknowledged there will be “emergency situations in the coming months and years” and called on the French to practise health protection measures such as washing hands and wearing facemasks to limit the spread of viruses and hence limit the use of medicines.
However, Macron’s announcements drew criticism.
“Only 25 drugs are concerned (then 50 in a very vague timeframe), whereas the critical list announced by the president includes 450, the WHO list of essential drugs includes 577, and the French list of drugs of major therapeutic interest includes 422”, OTMeds, an NGO that monitors the transparency of drug policy in France, said in a press release.
OTMeds also bemoaned Macron’s vagueness with regard to “the production of active ingredients”.
Besides the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the multiplication of viruses during winter, patients’ associations and the industry believe the main cause for drug shortages is linked to the pharmaceutical industry’s lack of competitiveness.
France, like most EU countries, has decided to outsource the production of medicines to Global South countries, in particular China and India, who are now responsible for 80% of the production of the active ingredients used to produce drugs.
Since 2013, France has dropped from first to fifth place among European drug producers, according to the Leem, the French trade association for pharmaceutical companies.
(Clara Bauer-Babef | EURACTIV.fr)
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