The questions posed by the sale of Doliprane to an American investor (and why does it make you cough)?

A little bit of Maalox for the uppercut in the stomach? Or Toplexil to stop coughing? Flagship of the French pharmaceutical industry, essential in our medicine drawers and compassionate companion for our aches and migraines, Doliprane has never been so close to passing under the American flag.

The Sanofi group announced this Friday that it was entering into exclusive negotiations with the American investment fund CD & R for the sale of a “majority stake” in Opella, its branch which manufactures and markets the famous yellow box but, at beyond that, around a hundred brands such as Dulcolax, MagneB6, Lysopaïne or Novanight.

So, of course, Sanofi had prepared the ground for a year, indicating that it wanted to focus on innovation and immunology. But until now he was also negotiating with a buyer – PAI Partners – whose funds are partly French. The choice of this sale to an American partner aroused ulcerated reactions and 62 deputies are already calling to block this operation which raises many questions. We put them in the pillbox for you, with the help of Frédéric Bizard, an economist specializing in health issues.

Were these drugs a burden for Sanofi?

Opella’s non-prescription medicine and vitamin/mineral manufacturing business is visibly thriving. Sanofi praises “a leading company in its sector […]serving more than half a billion consumers worldwide […] and which achieved sales growth of 6.3% at constant exchange rates in 2023.”

So there is a worse problem. But the industrialist is not giving up, he wants to see this flagship stand on its own two feet, to focus on “innovative medicines”. For Frédéric Bizard, this “strategy of separating from a division that could be described as a cash cow with its 5.5 billion turnover and its 20% profitability – therefore guaranteed, significant and sustainable financial flows – is risky.”

What is this American CD&R fund?

CD & R, named after its founders Clayton, Dubilier and Rice, is a venerable New York investment fund founded in 1978. It is “a serious investment fund which presents positive prospects for the development global Opella as well as for the sites established in France”, Antoine Armand and Marc Ferracci, the new Ministers of Economy and Industry, jointly indicated this Friday in a press release.

And indeed, the fund has backs as strong as its tastes are eclectic. It notably owns the Mobilux group in France, owner of the But and Conforama brands, and in 2021 bought Morrisons, the fourth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. For Opella, CD & R would have put 15 billion euros on the table, several hundred million more than PAI Partners.

“We are in the ultra-financialization of an industry which no longer has a human face,” laments Frédéric Bizard. The specialist “doubts the compatibility of the model of these pension funds with the delegation of a public service which is, basically, the production and supply of medicines”.

Should we be worried about jobs?

“This morning, more than 11,000 employees around the world, including 1,300 in France, woke up to discover that they had been sold like simple merchandise to a fund,” chokes the CGT Sanofi in a press release this Friday afternoon pointing out “the scandalous inertia of the State”.

The ministers in charge want to be reassuring. They specify “that a certain number of economic commitments will be required from Sanofi and the future buyer […]. In particular to guarantee the maintenance of the headquarters and decision-making centers on the national territory, and preserve the French industrial footprint of Opella.” A wish that can be achieved as long as the American buyer only owns half of the company. For Frédéric Bizard, the question of the viability of production in France, “a country with rather low drug prices but high production costs”, will arise “probably in three to five years, on the horizon of the next round table”.

And industrial sovereignty in all this?

What would we have done without our Doliprane during Covid? While the health crisis has raised awareness about a necessary industrial sovereignty in matters of medicines, this sale seems to be going against history? On this point, Frédéric Bizard is severe. “If the government had really wanted to avoid this transfer, it could have,” he said. For example, the United States for old products created non-profit companies to stabilize the market and try to maintain it at home. Slightly innovative initiatives on the capital front could allow France to remain competitive. »

The economist regrets their absence and cites as proof the current sale of Biogaran, the recent sale of a research center of the Pierre Fabre group to Indians or even “a 2025 finance bill which announces another billion planes on the price of medicines. “It’s a good idea to scare away the laboratories,” he believes. “The reality is that we are in a path of pharmaceutical desertification, even though we were number 1 until 2008.”


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