Around ten laboratories have just been sanctioned by the health authorities.
The cause is their insufficient stocks of medicines, which could create shortages.
The financial penalties amount to 8 million euros, an unprecedented amount.
Health authorities have just fined around ten pharmaceutical companies for failing to maintain sufficient stocks of drugs deemed essential, in a context of persistent shortages. “The National Agency for the Safety of Medicines issues 8 million euros in financial sanctions against pharmaceutical laboratories that have not respected their four months of safety stock”announced the ANSM in a press release published on Tuesday, September 24.
These sanctions come in the context of a tightening of the law against pharmaceutical groups in recent years, in order to strengthen their obligations regarding drug stocks. These measures, taken at a time when drug shortages are getting worse year after year, force companies to maintain stocks of two months, or in some cases four months, of drugs whose therapeutic interest is considered major.
Many treatments involved
These drugs are those for which an interruption of treatment could endanger the patient’s life in the short or medium term. The announced sanctions, which correspond to breaches noted in 2023, are unprecedented. For 2022, just over 500,000 euros in sanctions had been decreed. This time, around thirty references are concerned and cover a broad therapeutic spectrum.
“The identified shortcomings concern, for example, antihypertensives, anticancer drugs, antimicrobials, neurology drugs, etc.”explained to AFP Alexandre de la Volpilière, general director of ANSM. “The biggest sanctions concern generic drugs, which corresponds to the main supply disruptions that we have seen in recent years.”he added.
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One of the most significant sanctions thus affects Biogaran, the French generic giant, for insufficient stocks of a molecule against hypertension, irbesartan. These announcements were favorably received by patient associations, worried about the worsening shortages of treatments. “This is a good signal because before the fines were much lower”rejoices Catherine Simonin, from France Assos Santé, which brings together numerous associations.
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