Chloroquine: the last hope of the Famar drug factory

The Famar factory in Saint-Genis-Laval, in the Lyon region, is playing its last card. This 250-employee site, which once belonged to Sanofi, manufactures Nivaquine, a chloroquine-based drug against malaria, for the French laboratory. Its employees hope that the renewed popularity of this molecule, which raises a lot of hope in the treatment of coronavirus, will rekindle interest in Famar. In receivership since June, she is looking for a buyer.

Read also: Coronavirus: chloroquine, hope and doubts

" We are the only ones in France to manufacture chloroquine," assures Christophe-Daniel Le Page, CFE-CGC delegate for the factory which employs 250 people. We have the know-how, we are motivated and the majority of the factory employees are always on site. "

The site produced 180,000 boxes of Nivaquine in January, delivered to Sanofi. These are the last lots, Sanofi having decided to stop the sale of Nivaquine. His medicine is, in fact, used less and less against malaria. Furthermore, for lack of

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