In recent months, certainly due to the unprecedented political crisis we are experiencing, a term has come back: that of sovereignty. We are talking about it for energy, for food, for defense. But if there is an area where this notion takes on an even more vital meaning, it is that of medicine. Because behind each box, each pill, each bottle, there is more than a health product: there is a societal choice, a capacity for action, a national independence.
An illusion of abundance
For decades, we suggested that globalization could guarantee everything: the active ingredients would come from India or China, the factories would operate elsewhere, and France would keep the brains. This illusion of abundance has been shattered.
Today, 60% of our active ingredients are produced outside Europe and more than 80% of innovative medicines are available more quickly elsewhere than in France. The time taken to access treatment for our patients now reaches 523 days on average, while Germany takes barely two months.
Our country still has more than 100,000 jobs in the pharmaceutical industry
We have become dependent. And health dependency is a serious vulnerability. We have not succeeded in the Europe of defense, we can succeed in the Europe of medicine, and France will be the locomotive.
A sector under pressure
Our country still has more than 100,000 jobs in the pharmaceutical industry, unique know-how, solid and committed companies. But this sector is under pressure. The sale of historic sites like that of Maisons-Alfort, the sale of Biogaran, or the massive investments of large groups abroad are symbols of this.
Budgetary and fiscal constraints – 60% of operating income taken by the State, 1.7 billion euros in savings requested from the health sector in 2025 – are finally stifling national players. By pulling on the rope, we risk breaking an essential link in our collective security.
I believe in a simple idea: producing in France and in Europe means protecting France and Europe. Protect our patients, our jobs, our autonomy. When a factory closes here, it’s not just a production line that stops – it’s know-how that disappears, a capacity for reaction that disappears, a part of sovereignty that disappears.
Health is not defended with slogans, but with factories, with know-how, with ambition. It defends itself with decisions, incentives, and a clear industrial vision. The latest Verian survey confirms this: 91% of French people consider it a priority that strategic sectors produce in France, and nearly 8 out of 10 say they are ready to pay more for this to become a reality again.
“Our pharmaceutical industry is a national and European asset”
This is not a protectionist reflex: it is a requirement of common sense. Citizens have understood that behind industrial sovereignty their health sovereignty is at stake. We must now ensure that the extraordinary political situation in which we find ourselves is not an obstacle, neither at the French nor at the European level. Because we will need to rely on true political voluntarism.
Relocalization is not an industrial slogan. It is a national (and European) project.
This assumes:
- Stable tax rules, to encourage investment and not flight;
- Streamlined procedures, so that innovations reach patients more quickly;
- An ambitious relocation policy, which relies on our SMEs and ETIs, on the strength of our territories, on our scientific excellence.
We must also give France back its industrial pride: that of a country that cares, that innovates, that produces.
Medicine, a national asset
Our pharmaceutical industry is a national and European asset. It puts thousands of families to work, supports our exports, fuels our research and embodies the best that France and Europe have: scientific intelligence combined with social responsibility.
But wealth that is neglected always ends up becoming poorer. If we want to remain in control of our health, we must stop considering medicine as a simple budget line and defend it as what it is: a pillar of our sovereignty.
