Clearly, the Covid-19 pandemic has had significant consequences for the entire pharmaceutical sector.
Thus, according to La Dépêche du Midi, some pharmacies are out of stock of boxes of Doliprane in its 1000 gram capsule format.
More surprisingly, the 500 gram format does not suffer from any restocking problems, just like the tablet version or paracetamol-based drugs.
Contacted by the regional daily, Sanofi, manufacturer of Doliprane, confirms "tensions" in the supply of the 1000 gram format, the laboratory being faced with "an unprecedented increase in demand in pharmacies".
According to Sanofi, tensions over the 1000 gram Doliprane capsule format should last until next June.
Strong demand since March 2020
The reason for this shortage?
The high consumption of paracetamol during the Covid-19 pandemic, the High Council of Public Health recommending the use of this drug “for the symptomatic treatment of poorly tolerated fever or pain”.
Questioned by BFM Business, the president of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France (FSPF) confirms this hypothesis: “There has indeed been a strong demand for paracetamol and Doliprane for two years.
And it has increased further with the winter flu epidemic.
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If the paracetamol powder is well supplied as far as France, the capsule packaging laboratory in France, located in Lisieux in Calvados, would encounter difficulties in producing enough cans of the 1000 gram format, despite an increase in production of 50 % in the spring of 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Alternatives available
If Doliprane 1000 grams has been difficult to find in recent months, Philippe Besset, still on BFM Business, wants to be reassuring by indicating that boxes of 500 grams are available, as are Eferalgan and Dafalgan, two drugs also composed of paracetamol: " There are plenty.
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