France is now limiting the sale of paracetamol to just one or two packs per person - without a doctor’s prescription - as people stock up on the drug during the Covid-19 crisis.
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Pharmacists will still be able to give extra quantities to people with a GP prescription for the drug.
The measure was announced by national drug safety agency l’Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament (ANSM). It said it was advising medical professionals and pharmacies to “neither prescribe, deliver, nor stock these drugs unnecessarily”.
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The move comes after French health minister Olivier Véran warned that taking anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen or cortisone - normally seen as alternative or “equivalent” painkillers to paracetamol - could actually worsen the Covid-19 infection.
Infectious diseases specialist at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, Alexandre Bleibtreu, has explained that paracetamol does not act in the same was as ibuprofen or cortisone, and therefore does not present the same risks in the case of Covid-19.
In its announcement, ANSM said: “We remind patients to use paracetamol. In fact, anti-inflammatories - including ibuprofen - can mask an infection, and potentially aggravate it in certain cases.”
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