Transfer of Doliprane: the strike continues in Lisieux and remains suspended in Compiègne

The strike against the sale of Doliprane production sites in France is renewed on Tuesday in Lisieux (Calvados), but suspended in Compiègne (Oise), we learned from union sources.

Doliprane, the best-selling drug in France, will be able to come under the control of the American investment fund CD&R: the pharmaceutical group Sanofi formalized on Monday its choice to sell it 50% of its subsidiary Opella which produces the painkiller. This proposed sale arouses strong emotion within public opinion and the political class because it concerns a basic medicine used by a large number of French people to relieve pain and fever.

“We will do the same tomorrow, we will have Olivier Faure’s visit to the site,” added the trade unionist of this site dedicated to the production of Doliprane which has 250 jobs, assuring that “other Sanofi sites are on strike today ‘today in support, Ambarès, Sisteron, Aramon and Maisons-Alfort’.

Sanofi management indicated that it had counted on Tuesday “42 strikers on all Sanofi sites in France (including the Opella sites), including 33 in Lisieux” and “9 on the Vitry site”, in the Paris region. According to Sanofi, this movement has “no significant impact” on the production of Doliprane.

Start of negotiations

In Compiègne (Oise), a general meeting took place Tuesday morning, according to Adil Bensetra, CFDT deputy coordinator of Sanofi Compiègne, and another took place in the afternoon. For the moment, “we are not going to renew the mobilization,” he explained, before warning that “from next week, [ils allaient] start negotiations and if things did not go well, if there was a loss of social gains, there would be a new mobilization.”

The public investment bank Bpifrance will participate in the capital of this company to the tune of “1 to 2%”, or “between 100 and 150 million euros”, according to its general director Nicolas Dufourcq. The tripartite agreement between the State, Sanofi and CD&R, announced Sunday evening by the government, includes “the sustainability of the production sites in Lisieux and Compiègne”, the maintenance of the headquarters and research and development activities in France, the protection of employment.

Completion of the transaction is expected no earlier than the second quarter of 2025.