Dramatic turn of events in the sale of Doliprane: the French fund PAI, whose offer was not accepted by Sanofi last week, is said to have increased its bid to buy the subsidiary of the pharmaceutical group which markets the drug, against a backdrop of strikes by employees at various sites.
According to a source close to the French investment fund, "an improved offer has been submitted for an additional 200 million euros" compared to the offer presented a week ago in support of the Abu Dhabi Avia, Singaporean GIC and Canadian BCI funds.
This source did not, however, specify the amount of the competing offer or its own.
Sanofi, for its part, did not wish to comment.
The pharmaceutical giant announced last week that it was negotiating with the American investment fund CD&R in order to potentially sell it 50% of Opella, its subsidiary which houses around a hundred brands of non-prescription products worldwide, including Doliprane.
This strategic project, a new example of the refocusing of "Big Pharma" on innovation, quickly took on a political dimension given the popularity of this drug used to relieve pain and fever within French society.
The unions fear a "social breakdown" in the 1,700 jobs that Opella has on French soil, including 480 at its Compiegne site (Oise) and 250 at its Lisieux factory (Calvados), dedicated to this best-selling drug in France.
"We are sacrificing Doliprane and French health sovereignty on the altar of finance," laments Humberto de Sousa, CFDT coordinator of the group, present in Compiègne, where a hundred employees gathered.
Present, the left-wing deputy Francois Ruffin (ex-LFI) dismissed the "two sharks" candidates for the takeover, estimating: "The industrial sites must be in the hands of industrial players, and not financial players (...), the government must oppose it."
For Adil Bensetra, CFDT representative on the CE, this new offer "demonstrates that the movement is working, that things are moving, but it is not enough because an investment fund always poses a problem for us."
According to him, the employees decided to continue the walkouts after the announcement of the French offer.
In Lisieux, where 80 people mobilized on Thursday, "the strike movement will be renewed" on Friday from 8 a.m., announced Johann Nicolas, CGT union representative.
At the Mourenx site (Pyrenees-Atlantiques), which employs around sixty people and operates 24 hours a day, the call for a strike is manifested by successive walkouts, during each working time slot.
– “Scandalous” –
Mobilized "to defend our heritage and to keep our work", Isabelle Glais, a technician in Lisieux, would have hoped that the State "would move a little more to keep us in France (...) because Doliprane is our baby".
"It is scandalous that we allow companies like this to open in our territories," denounces the general secretary of the Calvados FO departmental union, Mickael Robe.
This project echoes the challenges of health policy in a context already marked by difficulties in supplying certain medicines, including shortages of paracetamol in the winter of 2022/23.
The outlines of this possible transaction are still under discussion, but the prospect of the arrival of a foreign financial player in Opella's capital worries even the highest levels of the State.
For several days, the government has been trying to reassure people about the future of Opella's French sites by making numerous declarations on the written commitments requested from stakeholders regarding jobs and security of supply.
But the exercise is delicate since we must not scare off foreign investors at a time when the executive is in a logic of reindustrialization.
"This government is committed to maintaining Doliprane in France," Economy Minister Antoine Armand assured senators on Wednesday, adding that "maintaining employment is the absolute priority and will not be negotiable."
But, he added, "if we really want France to be at the forefront of research, of industry, to be sovereign over all health technologies but not only, do we collectively believe that we can do without public and private funding?"
– “Sustainability” of jobs –
The president of Sanofi France, Audrey Duval, guaranteed on Thursday the "sustainability" of jobs, production sites and Doliprane.
In vain. In the opposition, calls to block the sale are becoming urgent.
"Our objective is not to block the sale, but to obtain written commitments through dialogue," stressed Maud Bregeon, government spokesperson, on Thursday.
In the midst of the Covid crisis, France has embarked on the task of regaining its health autonomy by seeking to relocate the production of certain medicines, including paracetamol, the chemical compound of Doliprane.
The active ingredient has not been manufactured in France since 2008-2009, but a paracetamol production plant is currently under construction on the Roussillon (Isère) site of the chemist Seqens, which has already signed contracts with Opella and Upsa (Dafalgan and Efferalgan).
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