Medocs made in France . The state will control the entire paracetamol production chain on its soil within three years, the economy and health ministries announced on Thursday two days after President Macron's call to relocate some drugs, in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.
"Work is thus underway with Seqens, Upsa and Sanofi so that, within 3 years, France will be able to reproduce, package and distribute paracetamol," said a joint statement from the Secretary of State to the Ministry of the Economy Agnès Pannier-Runacher and the Minister of Health Olivier Véran.
Avoiding shortages
"From Thursday, we will launch an initiative to relocate certain critical productions", announced Tuesday the President of the Republic after a visit to a Sanofi factory in Marcy-l'Étoile, in the Rhône.
"No one can imagine that France will one day be unable to allow everyone to access care, treatment and medication," said Olivier Véran on Thursday. In February, a report commissioned by the government made several recommendations on possible shortages of essential drugs.
"On this basis, the CSF [Strategic Committee for Industry and Health Technologies] will develop an action plan based on the identification of industrial projects that may be relocated, taking into account their socio-economic feasibility , environmental and social externalities, as well as eligibility criteria for national and European support measures, "the press release continued. "The relocation of the production of active ingredients of paracetamol on the national territory will constitute a first example of this approach", he concludes.
200 million euros invested by the State
At the start of containment, there was a strong consumer demand for Doliprane, the active ingredient of which is paracetamol, a pain reliever recommended for treating fever and pain, but no break in the supply chain.
The statement also complements the measures announced Tuesday by President Macron, including the establishment of an envelope of 200 million euros in 2020 to finance production infrastructure in the pharmaceutical industry.
Six selected laboratories
"The government has already selected six projects for a total amount of 78 million euros," he said before detailing the names of the laboratories selected: Abivax, Innate Pharma, Inotrem, Osivax, Xenothera and Genoscience .
For the other 120 million euros, a call for expressions of interest was published Thursday in order to "identify investment projects which will make it possible to rapidly grow the production of drugs involved in the care of patients with Covid-19, "said the two departments.
Finally, eight French projects were selected as part of the EIC (European Innovation Council) call for projects launched in March 2020 and will be allocated the sum of € 57.4 million to finance their research.
Four of them (Cypheme, Archeon, Osivax and Xenothera) are directly linked to research on the Covid-19, while four others (Pkvitality, Exeliom Biosciences, Carthera and Cristalens Industrie) are more general.
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