For the past ten years, Sophie has been taking Planéquil daily to treat her lupus. She has reached the end of her very latest brochure, but it is impossible to find any in pharmacies these days. Since Professor Didier Raoult, head of the IHU in Marseille, says that chloroquine is effective in treating the coronavirus, many French people are trying at all costs to get Plaquénil, a drug that contains the famous molecule.
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"My usual pharmacist replied that she hadn't had Plaquénil for a week and a half already. She and her colleagues have trouble getting in touch with the Sanofi laboratory (the manufacturer of Plaquénil, nldr) . I I'm worried ... "says Sophie. With or without coronavirus, some have obtained prescriptions from complacent doctors and have already run out of the meager stocks of pharmacies.
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The Medicines Agency had to issue an emergency decree on Thursday, forcing pharmacists to deliver Plaquénil only to the chronically ill. To receive them, they must also send patient prescriptions to Sanofi.
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For its part, the laboratory says that it is not ready to find itself in a situation of shortage. He even offers to send 300,000 boxes to scientists working on clinical trials, testing the effectiveness of chloroquine on the coronavirus. "It is a tiny part of our stock", explains their communicator. The manufacturing plant is running at full speed.