Paris (AFP)
The issue of drug shortages has arisen acutely since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. From where does Europe relocate production? Politicians brandish the argument of sovereignty but the operation is not so simple.
With between 60 and 80% of the active ingredients - necessary for the manufacture of medicines - manufactured outside the EU, supply tensions are not a new phenomenon. But the pandemic has the effect of a textbook case. Faced with exponential demand, certain products such as the curares required for resuscitation services experienced such tensions that at the end of March, nine major European hospitals demanded international cooperation to ensure a regular supply.
This state of affairs aroused the agitation, including of political leaders. "The day after will not look like the day before, we must rebuild our national and European sovereignty," said French President Emmanuel Macron in particular.
But how do we get factories back to Europe, after decades of outsourcing? Especially since it is "a very highly financialized sector, where margins are important", recalls economist Marie Coris, researcher at the University of Bordeaux. And that this industry has gone to Asia to find not only lower costs, but also "markets and skills".
In addition, to relocate, "it is not enough to have a factory, you need the environment around", underlines Gérard de Pouvourville, professor of economics specializing in health at Essec.
"An investment in a factory only makes sense for an industrialist if he needs to increase his production capacity and if he considers that the territory is attractive," he adds.
Attractiveness: this is the watchword of manufacturers. In France, where exports of medicines represented 33 billion euros last year (compared to 83 billion in Germany or 90 billion in Switzerland), the sector has been demanding incentives for years, arguing that France is much less tax-advantaged than its neighbors.
To ensure independence, "tax measures are also needed, as well as the promotion of French and European manufacturing," says Frédéric Collet, president of Leem, the French federation of pharmaceutical companies.
- "Historical Chance" -
His British counterpart Richard Torbett also calls on the authorities to support the sector. In late April, the head of the British Medicines Federation asked the government to keep the UK attractive, either by having the necessary infrastructure or by attracting young talent.
For specialists in the sector, the answer can in all cases be only European, no EU country being able to produce on its own the thousands of medicines necessary for its population.
After an exchange with his European counterparts in mid-May, the German Minister of Health Jens Spahn also considered that it was necessary to create financial incentives for the production of certain "important active ingredients" to return to Europe.
For her part, the French Secretary of State for Economy Agnès Pannier-Runacher told the Senate on Wednesday that the government was in favor of a European program to support the health sector, like this which was made for electric batteries.
"Europe has a large market size, there are strategies to rethink. It is complicated, but we may have a historic chance to grasp the European issue", judges economist Marie Coris.
A path that could be tortuous, as there are disparities within the continent.
"In Italy, the pharmaceutical industry is very strong. We did not have a problem and did not have to import medicines from other parts of the world" during the crisis, Massimo Scaccabarozzi told AFP the president of the association of Italian pharmaceutical industries, stressing that 80% of the production of medicines from his country is exported.
And to start with, it would still be necessary to harmonize the data available on supply problems, argues Efpia, the European federation of the sector. "To date, each Member State applies its own definition of shortage, which prevents any exploitation of data at European level", deplores its director general, Nathalie Moll.
© 2020 AFP