For Boiron, the world leader in homeopathy with around 80% of the market share, the reimbursement, against which he fought for years, was indeed the dreaded blow. “On reimbursed drugs, our sales fell by 40%, indicates Éric Lambert, general secretary of the laboratories. Our turnover, from 200 million euros in 2019, increased to 130 million in 2021.” Reimbursed drugs accounted for 70% of this turnover. “Now the proportions have reversed with 70% self-medication and 30% prescription, which is only an estimate in the absence of care”, says Eric Lambert.
As a result of this drop in activity, a social plan was implemented in 2021. “In France, 512 employees left the company out of 2,300, and 13 sites were closed out of 28”, continues the Secretary General. No layoffs, however, abroad, where Boiron employs a thousand people. On the flip side of the delisting was added, with the Covid pandemic, the generalization of barrier gestures, synonymous with the decline of winter pathologies for which Boiron offers granules.
Cosmetics, food supplements, self-tests…
To cope, the laboratory continues to create homeopathic specialties, while accelerating the development of cosmetics and food supplements, not to mention the launch of Covid self-tests. This policy, now supported by the current surge in winter pathologies, seems to be bearing fruit, since around forty people were recruited in 2022.
Within this oligopoly where only three players officiate, the two smallest are also suffering the blow. In July, Weleda France announced to the 280 employees of the Huningue site, in the Haut-Rhin, the elimination of 127 positions and the end of the production of homeopathic medicines. A subsidiary of the Lehning group, Homéopathie Rocal saw its sales drop by 70% compared to 2019, before the delisting. “This is also explained by the smear campaign to which the practice has been subjected, as well as by the drop in the number of homeopathic doctors and the rise in prices of around 30%”, explains a member of the group, who also points to consumers’ attraction to “other popular solutions such as aromatherapy and herbal medicine”.
A calmer speech
Lehning has not made any redundancies in its subsidiary, despite a deteriorating financial situation. “The economic model was already fragile in 2019, with high fixed costs linked to compliance with pharmaceutical standards and the need to respond to requests everywhere in France for very small, medium baskets”, points out the same source.
To recover, the two more modest players in homeopathy are diversifying more resolutely than Boiron. Weleda has greatly developed its range of organic cosmetics. Although it retains its Homéopathie Rocal subsidiary, Lehning invests in food supplements and phytotherapy via subsidiaries. As for the sometimes vehement remarks of the actors of homeopathy against the decision of the authorities, carried essentially by Boiron, they gave way to a more peaceful discourse: let the patients decide for themselves which therapies they want to use, without judgment.