How is pharmaceutical production in Eure-et-Loir and within Polepharma currently?
First, it should be noted that the pharmaceutical factories of the cluster and the department never stopped producing during this pandemic. This for obvious reasons, companies in the sector are obliged to supply the sick all over the world and especially the chronically ill. Our sector is vital for economic life and for the health of the sick.
That said, we can see a slight drop in production in the first weeks, due to confinement, but on average, the factories have managed to preserve the presence of their employees in the production workshops. This is not the case for office or support activities, which have been the subject of telework. This gives an 80 to 85% rate of staff presence in the drug companies.
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Have social distancing measures also been strongly applied in your sector?
Of course, the barrier measures have also been applied in pharma companies. Our industry already experiences these kinds of measures under normal circumstances, since the regulation of the production of medicines is one of the strictest in the world of work. The novelty is found in the generalization of masks in the logistics, storage and delivery areas.
An 80 to 85% rate of staff presence in drug companies.
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Laboratory workers have a real conscience in this area, even if they are not part of the front line staff. On the other hand, the maintenance sites have been postponed. One of our fears was that the supply chain collapsed during containment due to business closings in the transportation and logistics sector. But that did not happen. Overall, all the branches of activity around the sector held up well.
Have there been any products that have been under tension?
This is the case with the alcohol used in the manufacture of Paracetamol and hydroalcoholic gel, but this was quickly resolved. That said, for the products delivered from China, we were lucky since preventive stocks existed and this did not penalize the production of our companies too much.
This is the case, for example, for curare used in resuscitation and intensive care. During the first weeks of the pandemic, doctors began to fear a shortage of this vital product for people admitted to specialized services as well as to operating theaters.
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The government calls on employers to grant a bonus of € 1,000 to employees who worked during the confinement. Do you think the pharma sector will?
This is a question that is more addressed to each entrepreneur in the sector. That said, large companies have given bonuses that are even greater than € 1,000. There remains the difficulty of SMEs and small businesses, which will probably find it more difficult to do so. This question came to the surface last week to the big pharmaceutical companies.
We have set up within the cluster, in addition to helping health establishments on topics of solidarity with patients and medical staff, a crisis unit which meets with companies on continuation plans and human resources to care for the lives of employees during and after the crisis.
Interviewed by Ahmed Taghza
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