Medication shortages in France: Firms handed record fine for not respecting safety stocks

The French Medicines Agency has decided to sanction 11 pharmaceutical companies that did not respect the minimum four-month stocks for drugs “of major therapeutic interest”, handing them a record fine amounting to €8 million. This is 16 times the amount of sanctions imposed in one year, suggesting that the agency is shifting its strategy to address shortages of medication in the country. FRANCE 24’s Julia Sieger tells us more.