"Generally speaking, the situation tends to improve gradually," summarized the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines (ANSM), which regularly reviews the situation. "For some medications, stocks are beginning to be replenished across the entire supply chain (from the laboratory to pharmacies), which helps to limit the impact of shortages on patients."
"Several anticipated supplies materialized at the end of 2025 and are continuing into early 2026."she explains. But "However, this gradual recovery remains fragile and depends heavily on the regularity of supplies from the laboratories.", warns the ANSM.
Mental health is "major national cause" in 2025
Several drugs, widely prescribed in psychiatry, have been experiencing supply difficulties since the beginning of 2025. These have various causes, including the relocation of the production of active ingredients and a pricing system sometimes deemed insufficiently profitable by the pharmaceutical industry.
While mental health is "major national cause" In 2025, these tensions and shortages are a challenge for patients, for whom a sudden stop in treatment can have dramatic consequences.
Read alsoDrug shortage: the situation is worsening for quetiapine
One of the most emblematic shortages, because it was the first reported by psychiatrists and patients, concerns quetiapine, often prescribed to treat schizophrenia. "The information provided by the laboratories suggests a return to normal by the end of the first half of 2026.", announces the ANSM. Stocks are being replenished for some dosages – 50 mg and 300 mg – but not yet for the 400 mg version.
The situation appears to be returning to normal for risperidone.
On the other hand, the situation seems to be returning to normal for risperidone, prescribed for several pathologies including schizophrenia and bipolar disorders, and chlorpromazine (Largactil), which is mainly used in psychotic disorders, again schizophrenia, as well as paranoid delusions.
Read alsoSchizophrenia: Promising new treatments
For the first, which was experiencing difficulties in its injectable version, the return to normal is already effective, according to the ANSM, and for the second, its availability should be restored within three to four weeks.
Regarding other treatments, such as Teralithe – lithium salts for bipolar disorder – or venlafaxine, the ANSM mentions a " improvement " without a general return to normal. For Teralithe, needs are met for some dosages (400 mg), but emergency stocks are still being used for others.
English 
French