Several elected representatives of La France insoumise took action this Monday morning to oppose the sale of the Opella subsidiary of the pharmaceutical group Sanofi, which markets Doliprane, to the American fund CD&R. LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard called on TF 1 to “block the sale”, believing that the government’s entry into the capital was not sufficient.
Sanofi confirmed on Monday that it is joining forces with American investment fund CD&R to potentially cede control of its subsidiary Opella, which markets Doliprane, for an enterprise value of around 16 billion euros. The public investment bank “Bpifrance should participate as a minority shareholder with a stake of approximately 2%”, specifies Sanofi in its press release.
“We must stop the sale”
Economy Minister Antoine Armand “boasts of bringing the State to capital”, joked Manuel Bompard, “either he is naive, or he takes people for imbeciles because he is not with 1% participation (the initial information spoke of the ‘1%, ed.) in the capital that the State will have a say in the strategic decisions that will be taken by the group.
For the deputy from the Bouches-du-Rhône “we must block the sale. We have a possibility, it’s called the Montebourg decree, which allows us to refuse that strategic sectors pass under foreign flags. He also asked to “open the works of a public medical center”, as Congresswoman Alma Dufour on BFMTVor the chosen one Éric Coquerel on RTL.
The rebel president of the Finance Commission defended “the nationalization of Opella”. “We must ensure that we defend sovereignty over essential medicines. So we need a public medicine center,” he added.
Fear of layoffs and price increases
Alma Dufour highlighted the risk of an increase in the price of this drug. “Perhaps there will be no interruption in the supply of Doliprane by France”, but “from the moment the company goes under a foreign flag, we may also be the subject of speculation”.
The rebel MP Clémence Guetté said she was “very skeptical” about the agreement concluded between Sanofi, the American investment fund CD&R and the State. “Like the unions, we fear that this will be accompanied by a huge social plan. This American fund specializes in social plans. I remind you that Ma and Conforama took over and that thousands of jobs were lost,” he insisted FranceInter.
But Frédéric Valletoux, former Orizzonti health minister and president of the social affairs commission, he was more optimistic about the information about France. For him, the entry of BPI into the capital of Sanofi will allow “to follow the guarantees provided today by the operators, both by the seller Sanofi and by the American investment fund”.
It is not as strategic a topic as some want to say,” he argued, believing that “the most important thing is to focus on the production in France of the active ingredient” of Doliprane, paracetamol.
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