新湖畔网 （随信APP) | 法国对止痛药生产商卖给美国基金感到愤怒

多乐士(Doliprane)独特的黄色包装几乎可以在每个法国药柜里找到 - 版权 AFP ADEK BERRY

汤姆·巴菲尔德(Tom BARFIELD)和尤尔根·赫克(Jurgen HECKER)

法国制药公司赛诺菲(Sanofi)周一确认计划将其非处方药部门的控股权出售给美国投资基金，引发了新一轮政治矛盾，人们担心这笔交易标志着对关键药物失去主权。

法国Unbowed(LFI)政党的高级议员曼努埃尔·邦帕尔德(Manuel Bompard)在接受TF1电视台采访时表示，巴黎“必须利用保护战略性领域的权力阻止这项出售”。

数周来，政客和工会一直在批评赛诺菲与总部位于美国的投资基金CD&R达成的价值160亿欧元（174亿美元）的交易，该交易将获得Opella的控股权。

子公司生产家喻户晓的药品，包括多乐士(Doliprane)品牌的对乙酰氨基酚 - 其黄盒几乎可以在每个法国药柜里找到。

在压力下，总理米歇尔·巴尼耶(Michel Barnier)的少数派政府表示，已经为公共投资银行Bpifrance获得了Opella的2%股份，并获得了“极其强大”的反裁员和外包保证。

Opella拥有超过11,000名员工，业务遍布100个国家。

赛诺菲表示，它是全球第三大非处方药、维生素和保健品市场的企业。

赛诺菲在一份声明中表示，CD&R - 这家在法国拥有一系列现有投资的公司 - 将帮助Opella成为一个“总部位于法国的全球消费者保健行业领军企业”。

– “只是言辞” –

然而，由于人们对新冠疫情期间及其后的药物短缺仍然记忆犹新，批评者表示这些防线太薄弱。

LFI的同僚托马斯·波特斯(Thomas Portes)在X上发文表示，政府提供了“没有保证，只有言辞”。

经济部长安托万·阿尔曼(Antoine Armand)表示，CD&R、赛诺菲和政府之间的三方合同包括在法国保留生产基地、研发和Opella的官方总部，并在五年内至少投资7000万欧元。

“包括维持Opella敏感产品的法国最低生产量，”阿尔曼补充说，其中包括多乐士(Doliprane)、消化药蓝唑(Lanzor)和阿斯匹林品牌阿司匹林。

关闭法国生产基地、裁员或无法保持对法国供应商采购会受到财务处罚。

这包括Seqens公司重新在法国生产多乐士的活性成分对乙酰氨基酚。

即使在政府阵营中，这些保护措施也没有完全赢得所有人的支持。

马克龙上周试图平息担忧，表示“政府有必要的工具来保护法国免受任何不受欢迎的‘资本所有权’的影响”。

关于Opella接管的情绪主要源于多乐士(Doliprane)。

用于治疗轻至中度疼痛和发热的非阿片类镇痛剂的彩色盒子常常整齐地摆放在整个药房的墙上。

这种药物有多种剂量 - 从新生儿100毫克到成人1000毫克 - 以及片剂、胶囊、栓剂和液体剂。

它如此普遍，以至于法国人称任何对乙酰氨基酚产品都为多乐士(Doliprane)，即使是由不同制造商生产。

赛诺菲，法国最大的医疗保健公司之一，也是全球前12强之一，称计划中的拆分是将焦点从非处方药转向创新药物和疫苗，包括针对小儿麻痹症、流感和脑膜炎的治疗。

burs-jh-tgb/rl

Doliprane's distinctive yellow packaging can be found in almost every French medicine cabinet - Copyright AFP ADEK BERRY

Tom BARFIELD and Jurgen HECKER

French drugmaker Sanofi's Monday confirmation that it plans to sell a controlling stake in its over-the-counter unit to a US investment fund sparked a new political backlash, stoked by fears the deal marks a loss of sovereignty over key medications.

Paris "must block the sale" using powers to protect strategic sectors, said Manuel Bompard, a senior lawmaker in hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), in an interview with broadcaster TF1.

Politicians and unions have for weeks torn into Sanofi's proposed 16-billion-euro ($17.4 billion) deal with US-based investment fund CD&R for a controlling stake in Opella.

The subsidiary makes household-name drugs including Doliprane branded paracetamol — whose yellow boxes are a mainstay of almost every French medicine cabinet.

Under pressure, Prime Minister Michel Barnier's minority government said it had secured a two-percent stake in Orpella for public investment bank Bpifrance and "extremely strong" guarantees against job cuts and offshoring.

Opella employs over 11,000 workers and operates in 100 countries.

Sanofi said it is the third-largest business worldwide in the market for over-the-counter medicines, vitamins and supplements.

CD&R — which has a battery of existing investments in France — would help build Orpella into a "French-headquartered, global consumer healthcare champion", the pharma giant said in a statement.

– 'Just words' –

But with memories of drug shortages during and since the Covid-19 pandemic still raw for many, critics say the defences are too weak.

A small stake "won't give the French state a say in strategic decisions" at Orpella, said Bompard, whose LFI outfit dominates a left alliance that is the largest opposition bloc against Barnier and pro-business President Emmanuel Macron.

His hard-charging LFI colleague Thomas Portes posted on X that the government had offered "no guarantees, just words".

Economy Minister Antoine Armand said that the three-way contract between the CD&R, Sanofi and the government included maintaining production sites, research and development and Orpella's official headquarters in France, as well as investing at least 70 million euros over five years.

It covers "keeping up a minimum production volume for Opella's sensitive products in France," Armand added, including Doliprane, digestive medication Lanzor and Aspegic branded aspirin.

There would be financial penalties for closing French production sites, laying off workers or failing to keep up purchasing from French suppliers.

That includes Seqens, a company re-establishing production in France of Doliprane's active ingredient paracetamol.

The layers of protection have failed to completely win over even some in the government camp.

Monday's guarantees "do not at all indicate a commitment for the long term, whether on investment, supply or jobs", Charles Rodwell, a lawmaker in Macron's EPR party who has closely followed the case, told AFP by email.

He vowed "painstaking" surveillance from parliament of the government's enforcement of the deal.

Should ministers fall short, lawmakers would "activate all the tools at parliament's disposition to block" the sale, Rodwell added.

– Brand loyalty –

Macron had attempted to quash fears last week, saying that "the government has the instruments needed to protect France" from any unwanted "capital ownership".

Emotion over the Opella takeover largely traces back to Doliprane.

Colourful boxes of the non-opioid analgesic against mild to moderate pain and fever often line entire pharmacy walls.

The drug comes in many doses — from 100 mg for newborn babies to 1,000 mg for adults — and in tablet, capsule, suppository and liquid forms.

It is so ubiquitous that French people call any paracetamol product Doliprane, even when made by a different manufacturer.

Sanofi, France's biggest healthcare company and among the world's top 12, says the planned spinoff is part of a strategy to focus less on over-the-counter medication and more on innovative medicines and vaccines, including for polio, influenza and meningitis.

burs-jh-tgb/rl