Sanofi wants to sell its subsidiary marketing over-the-counter drugs, including Doliprane, to an American investment fund.
A transfer which raises questions in terms of French health sovereignty, notes TF1’s 1 p.m.
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It is the best-selling drug in France. Doliprane could become American. Negotiations are underway between Sanofi and an investment fund. But these negotiations raise the question of health sovereignty, a repeated commitment by the Head of State since the Covid crisis. “We absolutely must continue to relocate the raw material or the finished product, sometimes both, to secure the territory’s stock supply.“, said Emmanuel Macron on June 13, 2023. In the name of this health sovereignty, parliamentarians from all sides are calling on the government to block this session, a national security issue, according to them.
1,700 employees are affected
The American partner assures that it wants to develop the company’s activity from France where almost all of the Doliprane sold in the territory is produced in Normandy with 450 million boxes last year with 1,700 employees involved.
The announcement of the potential takeover of the factory by an American fund provokes incomprehension among employees. “Lots of question marks, lots of worry. What will become of the employees, the 250 employees? Will production remain on French soil? There, we have no response, no transparency from general management“, explains Eric Barbet, CGT Sanofi union representative in Lisieux.
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The sale has not been finalized, but negotiations are already well advanced. An American fund could buy 50% of Opella, the branch of Sanofi which manages non-prescription brands, such as Doliprane, Maalox or Lysopaïne. Sanofi wants to reassure its employees. “This project changes absolutely nothing about Opella’s roots in France, neither on employment nor on the future of its French sites in Lisieux and Compiègne.” explains the company.
