Laure Lechertier, director at Upsa.
Thierry Breton / SO
The turmoil produced by the sale to an American fund of the Sanofi subsidiary, Opella, which produces doliprane, pushes Upsa, the second player in the market but the leading French producer, to come out of the woodwork. Laure Lechertier, director of market access, communication, public affairs and CSR, explains the reason.
Two years ago when your competitor Sanofi was experiencing shortage problems, you expressed yourself by recalling your weight on the market in the manner of “there is not only Doliprane in life”. Is the emotion aroused by the sale of Opella annoying you again?
We can’t talk about annoyance. But when we talk about health sovereignty being endangered due to the situation of our competitor, we completely forget UPSA which produces 100% French production! We forget that we have been there for 90 years, that we have a 22% market share in France with Efferalgan and Dafalgan and that we are in France, in Agen, the leading producers of paracetamol-based medicines with more than 300 million boxes per year. And indeed, as this happened at the time of the health crisis and the shortages experienced by our competitor, I want to say that there is not only Doliprane in France. We need to restore a balance and not forget ourselves so easily.
Could this sale to an American fund call into question the relocation of the active ingredient underway in Roussillon with the Paracetamol Seqens factory of which Upsa and Sanofi are partners?
I have not read or seen any questioning. In any case, Upsa remains committed alongside Seqens on the project which will see the light of day in 2026 with the objective of a very innovative tricolor paracetamol.
Upsa was sold in 2019 by the American BMS to the Japanese Taisho. Since then, the Agen laboratory has continued to assert its French roots. It’s paradoxical, isn’t it?
We certainly have Japanese shareholders but we remain a French company with our own legal status, brands and strategic vision. Investments, 17 million euros, are made each year for the benefit of the industrial tool.
Which was not the case under the American flag…
BMS has invested a lot on the industrial level but it is true that there has been much less investment in commercial policy. We have lost a lot of brand visibility. And this is also when our curves intersect with those of our competitor since 20 years ago, Efferalgan and Dafalgan dominated the French market compared to Doliprane.
Doesn’t the government’s agitation in the face of this transfer leave you wondering when we know the drug pricing policy in France which is not favorable to French manufacturers?
There is indeed a fundamental question: how to maintain the industrial fabric in France? This requires a fairer pricing policy which recognizes the territorial footprint (direct and indirect jobs) and which takes into account the environmental footprint. This is the case with the relocation of the active ingredient of paracetamol. This must be recognized in the price, according to a bonus/malus system which would be painless for health insurance. It is necessary to find this type of mechanism to promote industrial maintenance.
