The government banned on Wednesday January 4 until the end of the month the online sale of paracetamol-based products, in a persistent context of supply difficulties for this ubiquitous drug in medicine cabinets.
“The online sale of specialties composed exclusively of paracetamol is suspended until January 31, 2023”decreed the government in a decree published Wednesday in the Official Journal.
This decision takes note of the fact that “Tensions in paracetamol-based drugs have continued for more than six months”especially for forms intended for children. “The various measures taken by the health authorities, however effective they may have been, have so far not made it possible to put an end to it”acknowledges the decree.
Uncertainties from China
The government is also highlighting the “uncertainties over the next few weeks related to the health situation in China” who “pose a risk of aggravation of tensions in the supply of specialties composed exclusively of paracetamol”. The Chinese government has banned the export of paracetamol, while the country which is facing an outbreak of Covid-19 cases produces a large part of the active ingredient used by laboratories around the world.
For several months, the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) has been asking pharmacists to ration the sale of paracetamol to each patient, an emblematic painkiller which is used in particular as a basis for Sanofi’s Doliprane and Dafalgan.
In December, the Ministry of Health had already warned that, despite these measures, the situation remained ” complex “ and would not resolve for several weeks. These supply difficulties are also part of a broader context of shortages of multiple drugs, in France or other countries, starting with antibiotics such as amoxicillin.