Pharmacies close at a frantic pace, and the situation only worse.
Each day, a pharmacy disappears in France, depriving the inhabitants of direct access to care. This alarm trend as much health professionals and residents who count on their pharmacist on a daily basis. “There is a real danger For the profession, but also for patients who will no longer have access to local care “ Pierre-Olivier Variot, pharmacist in Plombières-lès-Dijon and president of the USPO (Union of Unions of Frame Pharmacists) that we contacted. With 40% of pharmacists ready to sell their pharmacy within 5 years*, the future of local pharmacies is more than ever in danger.
“When a firm pharmacy, patients must manage to find another point of sale, sometimes far from home. The inequalities in access to care keep getting worse.” In rural areas, where certain pharmacies are the only health establishments for miles around, the impact is even stronger. “Some pharmacies close because they come together, explains the pharmacist. Two pharmacies merge to make only one in this case it does not impact access to care ” but “A certain number closes for lack of buyers. The pharmacist is retiring and no one takes up the pharmacy”. There are also the economic difficulties that weigh heavily. “The drop in profitability of pharmacies is the main cause of these closures” continues our interlocutor.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not competition for online pharmacies that jeopardizes physical pharmacies. “It is the economic pressure exerted by health insurance that accelerated the phenomenon. This is not a repayment problem, but a payment problem. It is required for pharmacies to sell medicines at ever lower prices, while their expenses explode: wages, electricity, rents …” Result : “First, the holder wins less. Then he has to fire. Then comes the closure.”
For Pierre-Olivier Variot, there are two solutions: “Restore purchasing power to pharmacies by increasing their profitability and developing pharmacies ‘mother-daughter’: when a firm pharmacy for lack of buyer, another pharmacy can open a branch in the commune concerned. We define with the ARS (Regional Health Agency) a number of hours of weekly opening. This makes it possible to maintain access to drugs without the financial weight of a conventional pharmacy.” The expansion of pharmacists’ missions (vaccination, screening, etc.) could also help “But it’s not enough”, tempers the president of the USPO. “These missions are time -consuming and not remunerative enough to compensate for losses.”
*Survey carried out in February 2025 by the USPO with a representative sample of 3,100 titular pharmacists.
