France will import pills from Italy as, for several weeks now, the country has been dealing with a lack of misoprostol Health Minister François Braun announced on Wednesday.
Misoprostol is a pill used in 76% of medical abortions in France, according to the Directorate for Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (Drees). Currently, this drug is in short supply in the cities of Lille and Colmar and in the regions of Île-de-France and Occitania, according to the OTMeds, which sounded the alarm on Friday.
“This April 18, the Ministry of Health François Braun announces that France will import abortion pills (#misoprostol) from Italy to cope with shortages,” the Observatory of Transparency of Medicines (OTMeds) tweeted on Wednesday.
The National Agency for Drug Safety (ANSM) officially said there was a “supply tension” issue, not a shortage. The ANSM adds that the tensions on misoprostol in France date from the beginning of 2023.
According to the European Medicines Agency (EMA), no other country in the EU has a situation similar to France’s.
“The EMA has not been informed of recent shortages of abortion pills in the EU,” the EMA told Euractiv France.
The European agency also said that the most recent shortages of misoprostol and other antiprogestins date back to 2020, mainly in Slovakia and Norway.
“National competent authorities usually manage shortages of authorised products at the national level, especially if they do not affect other countries,” the EMA told EURACTIV.
The tensions over misoprostol are leading to fears of restricted access to abortion, and several associations and politicians have raised concerns.
“The difficulties in supplying abortion pills directly impact people who want an abortion. The situation can no longer continue,” Family Planning tweeted.
“Today, the shortage goes one step further. It affects women’s right to abortion,” wrote Senate Vice President Laurence Rossignol (Socialiste, Ecologiste et Républicain) in a letter to François Braun.
According to the Observatory for Drug Transparency, the misoprostol shortage results from a “concentration of production,” which would make the supply chain “vulnerable.”
“The defence of the right to abortion requires a public relocation of the production of abortion pills. This production must also be coordinated at the European level”, concluded the OTMeds on Twitter.
(Clara Bauer-Babef | EURACTIV.fr)
Source: euractiv.com
