Doliprane is becoming increasingly rare in pharmacies. These ruptures only concern Doliprane 1,000 grams in capsules.
The painkiller star has seen its sales rise sharply since 2021. The cause? A demand that has exploded in recent months, in particular because of the Covid-19 epidemic, the rebound of the Omicron wave and the winter flu.
Problem: the Sanofi laboratory, the main manufacturer of the drug, is no longer able to meet this strong demand.
“There are tensions”, confirmed a Sanofi spokesperson to our colleagues at Midi-Free. “There has indeed been a strong demand for paracetamol and Doliprane for two years. And it has increased further with the winter flu epidemic”, explained to BFM Business Philippe Besset, President of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France (FSPF).
Back to normal this summer?
According to Midi-Free, Sanofi should write to pharmacists to limit a priori orders of Doliprane to a maximum of 720 units per pharmacy.
Faced with these supply problems, Sanofi advises to fall back on the 500mg capsules which do not encounter any production problems.
Other alternatives: Eferalgan and Dafalgan, two drugs also composed of paracetamol whose stocks are not overdue.
The shortage of 1,000mg boxes should continue until the end of June for a return to normal this summer.