A slight improvement on the drug availability front. While many French people often struggle to find the products prescribed by their doctor in pharmacies, players in the pharmaceutical sector want to believe that the strategy put in place at the end of last year to resolve certain difficulties is bearing first fruits.

To deal with the difficulty of access to certain products, in particular the flagship antibiotic Amoxicillin, the government and the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) have endeavored to take action on several fronts as winter and its epidemics approach.

Release stocks

In November, players in the pharmaceutical industry signed a charter with the ANSM. Its objective: to ensure that medicines are distributed as “fairly” as possible across the territory, avoiding pharmacies ordering more than necessary and sourcing largely directly from laboratories rather than via wholesalers-distributors, responsible for distributing the vast majority of reimbursable medicines.

In December, while the situation “continued to deteriorate in pharmacies”, particularly for the oral form of Amoxicillin prescribed to children, the ANSM asked manufacturers to “immediately” make available to wholesalers-distributors ” the majority” of their stocks.

Result: at the beginning of January, the indicators on the availability of several forms of Amoxicillin in pharmacies were green on the ANSM website while those on the more problematic pediatric forms were in orange, and not in red as seen in December for one of the two closely monitored forms.

Several players in the chain are also reporting improvements following an update on the situation carried out with the ANSM at the end of last week. The charter “works” thus assured the president of the Union of Community Pharmacists’ Unions, Pierre-Olivier Variot, quoted by “Le Quotidien du Pharmacist”. And this is to ensure that pharmacies “only order what they need”.

Wholesaler-distributors are also detecting positive signals. “On Amoxicillin, there is an undeniable improvement on certain references between today and before Christmas,” explains Emmanuel Déchin, general delegate of the Chambre syndicale de la distribution pharmaceuticale (CSRP). “Wholesalers very clearly felt an improvement in supply levels”, following the ANSM asked manufacturers to “release their stocks”, he assures.

Situation still very tense

“The implementation of this coordination action has borne fruit in gradually restocking pharmacies with the majority of forms of Amoxicillin,” declares Thomas Borel, director of scientific affairs at LEEM, the organization representing the laboratories. “The volumes distributed by laboratories to wholesalers have increased,” notes Sébastien Trinquard at Gemme, representing generic drug manufacturers.

However, the supply problems are far from being resolved. Several actors emphasize that the tensions are not only explained by distribution problems but also by production problems. Access to Amoxicillin for children also continues to be problematic. “In terms of availability, it is better than it was but it remains difficult,” underlines Emmanuel Déchin, for the Chambre syndicale des wholesalers-distributors.

The anti-shortage plan already postponed twice

“The situation is still very tense,” assures Philippe Besset, of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France (FSPF). “It’s Friday, I have three boxes left, I’m going to use them during the day and I’m on call this weekend,” he explained last week.

Witness to the persistent concern of pharmacists, the Bouches-du-Rhône pharmacists’ union has been inviting patients since the beginning of the year to sign a petition to challenge the President of the Republic on the problems of shortages. “For months we have seen exasperation with stock shortages and people’s stress,” says Valérie Ollier, president of the organization behind this mobilization.

The availability of medicines is also closely linked to the evolution of epidemics. One thing is certain, the players in the pharmaceutical chain would like to change ministers less often. Scheduled for December, the presentation of the roadmap to combat the shortage was postponed just before the resignation of the Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau. It had already been canceled during the reshuffle last summer.