The prescriptions of the painkiller had been limited to two boxes per patient in the absence of an order.
Le Monde with afp
After a recommendation from the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) advocating to limit the issuance of paracetamol in pharmacies, the laboratories that produce this painkiller are reassuring. “Regarding UPSA, who monitors the state of stocks of his references daily (Dafalgan, Efferalgan), no shortage is noted,” said the laboratory in a letter to AFP.
Wednesday, the ANSM, the college of general medicine and the unions of FSPF and USPO pharmacists have made “recommendations in order to moderate the use of paracetamol”, and thus allow patients who have an immediate need for power benefit from it.
They thus recommend pharmacists to limit, in the absence of prescription, the dispensation with two boxes per patient. Another recommendation, this time for doctors: do not prescribe paracetamol to patients who do not have an immediate need.
a million boxes of doliprane produced per day
However, the main French producers insist that stocks are not breaking. “The weekly surveillance implemented by UPSA reports more than a month of stocks available in pharmacies on average for paracetamol brands Dafalgan and Efferalgan”, underlines UPSA with the France-Presse agency.
Supply in active ingredients come, up to 85 %from the United States. The manufacture of the finished product is then fully ensured on the industrial sites of the laboratory in France, in Agen, explains the manufacturer.
The giant Sanofi declares that he also does not know any supply difficulties. The group produces about 1 million boxes of doliprane per day, which is enough to cover the needs of the population until the end of the year, he said. To meet the exceptional demand, the Lisieux (Calvados) site “turns at full capacity”, adds the laboratory, which specifies that 96 % of this production are intended for the French market.
At the height of the pandemic, the sale of paracetamol had been limited to one box per person, which had generated a mini-panic and led to the decision to repatriate the production of its active ingredient on French territory. This must be again produced in Isère from 2023.