Doliprane, at the heart of a controversy surrounding the sale of the Sanofi subsidiary which produces it, remains the most prescribed drug in France. Its competitor Dafalgan comes far behind in second place, according to figures published Thursday by Health Insurance. In one year, more than 300 million boxes of Doliprane, produced by the pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, were prescribed in France, according to data finalized in mid-2024. No other treatment exceeds the 100 million threshold.
One of the most common painkillers
Second place goes to Upsa's Dafalgan with less than 75 million boxes. Doliprane like Dafalgan are products based on paracetamol, one of the most common painkillers. Paracetamol is “by far the first molecule reimbursed in volume”, underlines Health Insurance. And “Doliprane alone accounts for almost 75% of the number of boxes delivered for this molecule”.
With around 36 million patients, more than half of the French population has been prescribed Doliprane, a sign of the still emblematic nature of this drug at the heart of a recent controversy.
Sanofi plans to sell the majority of Opella, its subsidiary producing Doliprane, to an American fund, CD & R. The announcement provoked strong opposition from unions, as well as political leaders from all sides, against a backdrop of concerns concerning the use and supply of medicines, even if paracetamol itself is not manufactured by Sanofi's French factories.
The medicine, not automatic
The State has imposed numerous guarantees on Sanofi and CD & R regarding the use and production of Doliprane on French soil, even if they are considered insufficient by opponents of the sale. Despite Sanofi's overwhelming place in prescriptions, it is not the treatment for which reimbursement represents the highest amounts for Health Insurance. It only ranks 17th, given its low cost. First place goes to an anticoagulant, Eliquis – marketed jointly by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer -, with more than 750 million euros reimbursed.
However, this drug has hardly demonstrated any major benefit compared to other treatments. This is the case for many other covered treatments: almost a third of the amounts reimbursed in 2022, according to Health Insurance. On the occasion of the publication of these data and in a tense budgetary context, the latter is launching a campaign calling on patients not to systematically request medication from doctors.
