• The most prescribed antibiotic in children, amoxicillin is becoming rare in pharmacies due to the explosion in demand and the lack of anticipation by the pharmaceutical industry.

  • To cope with this shortage, around forty French pharmacies have been authorized to manufacture their own capsules.

  • One of them, located in Rennes, agreed to open the doors of its laboratory to us.

All parents know his name.

Used to treat bacterial infections such as angina or otitis, especially in children, amoxicillin is the most prescribed antibiotic in France.

Very popular, the drug has however been rare in pharmacies for several weeks.

The fault of the Covid-19 epidemic, which came to seize the supply everywhere on the planet.

After having drastically reduced or completely stopped the production of amoxicillin during the crisis, manufacturers are no longer able to meet global demand, which has exploded with the resurgence of winter infections.

As a result, many pharmacies found themselves out of stock from November, forcing the health authorities to take emergency rationing measures.

The return to normal is not expected before “two months”, according to the Minister of Health François Braun.

The National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) also authorized around forty pharmacies at the end of December to exceptionally manufacture amoxicillin to make up for the shortage.

“This helps to limit the shortage”

One of them is located in Rennes.

In this pharmacy, the production of 125 and 250 microgram capsules started during the holiday season.

“We would of course like this shortage to end as soon as possible, because it is not, theoretically, our job, underlines Gurvan Helary, manager of the premises.

But we decided to commit to participate in this collective effort.

Its teams are not, however, novices in this field since the pharmacy is a subcontractor and therefore has the approval to produce magistral preparations, medicines made “to measure” for a given patient.

"We prepare 250 per day on average", specifies Gurvan Helary, who also chairs the national union of pharmaceutical preparation.

For the past few days, however, the pace has accelerated in the Rennes pharmacy from which 1,500 capsules of amoxicillin come out every day in order to supply pharmacies in the Great West in dribs and drabs.

"We do not have the industrial production capacities of the manufacturers, but this at least makes it possible to limit the shortage", he underlines.

To manufacture the precious antibiotic, the pharmacist obtains supplies of amoxicillin from wholesalers because the raw material is not lacking.


The process is then quite artisanal.

Using a game card, the preparers distribute the white powder on a large plate before manually filling the capsules.

Quite simple, the technique still requires certain precautions.

“We work the material under a hood because it is very volatile, specifies Gurvan Helary.

You must also wear protective clothing to avoid allergies or contamination.

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“Recognition of our work”

If it turned the teams upside down a bit at the start, the new organization is now well established.

This new mission is even taken very seriously.

“It's recognition of our work,” says Elisabeth.

We realize today that the preparers exist and that we are able to respond to a demand for drugs very quickly.

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Gurvan Helary also sees the manufacture of amoxicillin as a source of pride for pharmacies like his, which produce masterful preparations.

“It's very rewarding because that's also the beauty of the job and we see that it's useful, he says.

But still it is necessary that we want to keep this skill which tends to be a little put aside.

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Why the drug shortage is expected to last

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Shortage of drugs: The demand "was not anticipated by the manufacturers", according to François Braun

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