Health. Why are pharmacies on strike?

Finding an on-call pharmacy can be difficult right now. Pharmacists are continuing their on-call strike, which began on July ^1st , or are refusing to apply third-party payment in requisitioned pharmacies. They are protesting the government's desire to lower the ceiling on commercial discounts granted by pharmaceutical companies for generic drugs.

To encourage the sale of generic drugs, pharmacists can purchase them at up to 40% less. The total discount is estimated at €600 million. But in a context of public finances recovery, the government wants to lower this ceiling to reduce pharmacists' margins on generic drugs, push manufacturers to lower their prices, and thus reduce the amounts reimbursed by health insurance.

The government had initially planned to lower the cap to between 20% and 25%, before changing its mind to 30%, then proposing 33% on generics, 15% on biosimilars and a move to a 20% cap on both types of drugs in 2027, following the final arbitration by Matignon on Wednesday. These proposals were deemed insufficient by pharmacists' organizations (FSPS, USPO, UNPF, Federgy, UDGPO), who are continuing their movement, while the new cap is theoretically due to come into effect on August ¹ .

"What's at stake is the precarious balance of the pharmacy economy ," explains Pierre-Olivier Variot, a pharmacist in Plombières-lès-Dijon (Côte-d'Or) and president of the Union of Pharmacists' Unions (Uspo). Variot points out that "nearly 300 pharmacies closed their doors in 2024, and 145 have already closed since the beginning of 2025." "What the government wants to do is a fundamental reform, and it hasn't even conducted an impact study," he denounces.

According to him, "6,000 pharmacies are in danger," out of the 20,000 in France . For pharmacists' unions, this is not only a matter of the economic survival of pharmacies, but also of "local health," particularly in rural areas that already lack doctors.

The only positive point Pierre-Olivier Variot took away from his meeting with the Ministry of Health was "the proposal to completely review the way pharmacists are paid," something he has long called for. "But we won't be satisfied with promises; we want something concrete," he warned.

The unions plan to increase their mobilization at the start of the school year, with the end of the preparation of pill boxes for nursing homes—which pharmacists do for free—starting September ^1st , a "black day" on Thursday, September 18th, and a weekly closure on Saturdays starting September 27th. Until then, actions will also be carried out locally.