In France, the triple-epidemic of Covid-19, influenza and bronchiolitis is still ongoing, even though the situation seems “calmer”, according to the Minister of Health François Braun. However, the ongoing drug shortage – notably amoxicillin and paracetamol – is not going to improve the situation. Indeed, amoxicillin represents 90% of antibiotic prescriptions in childrenespecially in the case of bronchiolitis.
“The situation has been very tense since the start of 2022., confirms Pierre-Olivier Varlot, president of the Union of Community Pharmacists (USPO), and not only in France: 25 of the 27 Member States of the European Union lack amoxicillin, and the United States, Canada and Australia are also affected. 80% of the 35 countries monitored by the WHO report a lack situation.
And the supply tension of these two drugs is not likely to improve any time soon. But what is it due to? First, the drop in post-Covid production has its role in the lack of amoxicillin and paracetamol. “We are sick much more often in 2022 than in 2020, the average level of antibodies has dropped because people have not had infectious diseases in recent years“, notes Professor Andréas Werner, president of theFrench Association of Ambulatory Pediatrics. “This has lowered the demand for antibiotics, and therefore manufacturers have reduced their supply.”
Explosion of Covid-19 cases in China
But above all, the flamboyant resumption of the epidemic in China – in particular with the BF.7 variant – after the lifting of the “zero Covid” policy is also having a strong impact. As the number of cases increases, the Chinese are rushing to buy drugs from pharmacies. When the stocks are empty, they turn to their families abroad to send them some.
The country therefore requisitioned its factories For “guarantee the supply” of the national market, according to AFP. In total, a dozen pharmaceutical companies have been requisitioned. Exports are limited and even sometimes cut off: an ibuprofen manufacturing plant in Shandong province south of Beijing has seen its exports “paused”reports France info.
However, China is the leading supplier of drugs and paracetamol in Europe. “80% of the active ingredients, the raw material for us medicines are made in China and India”recalls on Twitter Professor Rémi Salomon, president of the AP-HP, fearing the new wave of Covid in China will worsen the shortages of many drugs in France.
80% of the active ingredients, the raw material for our medicines are manufactured in China and India.
The covid wave that is currently overwhelming China is likely to aggravate our supply difficulties in many medicines.Production needs to be relocated.
— Remi Solomon (@RemiSalomon) December 24, 2022
“‘Basic’ drugs like paracetamol and amoxicillin have been outsourced by Westerners to India and China for thirty years“, says Hubert Testard, specialist in Asia and international economic issues at Sciences Po, to France 24. They “are not very profitable and their production requires large investments, which has resulted in their relocation to China, causing a fairly strong dependency.”
The consequences could therefore arrive quickly on French territory, in particular because there is “out of stock”ends Professor Bernard Bégaud of the University of Bordeaux, at the microphone of France info. To limit future shortages, the ANSM recommends prescribing paracetamol only if really necessary and prescribing amoxicillin individually, in order to avoid waste.
Sources:
- Covid-19: why the outbreak of contamination in China could worsen the shortage of paracetamol and painkillers in France, France infoDecember 27, 2022
- Dependence on China at the heart of the global shortage of amoxicillin and paracetamol, France 24December 24, 2022
