The Boiron laboratory announced Wednesday more than 600 job cuts in France, or about a quarter of the workforce in the country, and the closure of one of its three production sites, putting this decision on the account of the reimbursement of the homeopathy decided by the government.
13 out of 31 French Boiron sites will be closed
Thirteen of the 31 Boiron sites in France will be closed, including the Montrichard factory in Loir-et-Cher, resulting in the total loss of 646 jobs, said the group, which presented this project to the unions in the morning . This plan, which will only concern the French part of the 3,700 or so employees of the group worldwide, is necessary to "perpetuate the company and secure its future and that of the employees who remain," said the group.
"In this project, there are the creation of 134 positions and also a new organization of our commercial teams to be able to adapt to this new situation", he specifies, adding that the international subsidiaries are not concerned by "this reorganization plan". In detail, in addition to the Montrichard factory, 12 preparation-distribution sites will be closed, in Avignon, Belfort, Brest, Grenoble, Limoges, Niort, Paris-Bois d'Arcy, Paris-Ivry, Pau, Rouen, Strasbourg and Toulon.
A situation put on the account of the reimbursement of homoepathy
The Lyon laboratory, the world leader in the sector, highlights the role that, according to him, the decision to defund homeopathy made by the French government plays, when France accounts for almost 60% of its sales. Since January 1, homeopathy, which was reimbursed at 65% before falling to 30%, is only 15% reimbursed. This rate will drop to zero in 2021. This decision was announced in July 2019 by the Ministry of Health, after a long controversy over the effectiveness of homeopathy. At the time, Boiron had said that a defund of homeopathy would threaten 1,000 jobs out of 2,500 in France.
There has been "a very virulent destabilization campaign for two years", affirms the company, which says to continue to "do everything to obtain a moratorium and the maintenance of a reimbursement". The group, which is due to publish its annual financial results on the evening of Wednesday, has confirmed that it expects its profitability to drop in 2019. Its annual sales last year, already published, are down almost 8% to 557 million euros, even though the reimbursement had not yet taken place.