Strike: 90% of pharmacies will close their doors on the weekend of August 15

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" Today, I'm selling this box [of ibuprofen] for €3.01, and we're buying it for €1.76. Tomorrow, the government is telling us we'll pay 10% more ," explains pharmacist Thierry Leborgne. The Toulouse establishment where he works will be closed on Saturday, August 16, like many others in France due to the call to strike .

A third of pharmacy margins are generated from the sale of generic drugs, thanks to discounts granted by laboratories of up to 40% depending on the drug. Starting next month, these discounts are expected to drop by 10%. This represents a clear loss of revenue for pharmacies. "That's roughly the salary of one of our two partners. What do I do? One of us stops paying ourselves? " the pharmacist continues.

In Toulouse, customers are poorly informed about the pharmacy's closure. In the countryside, however, everyone is aware. There are no other pharmacies in the village of Noé (Haute-Garonne), and the one that exists is essential for many residents. The government's proposed measure worries one of the employees, Carole Aparicio.

" When you're a small pharmacy, how do you expect us to survive? It's impossible. So, already, there are people in certain villages who are forced to travel 15, 50, or 100 km to find a doctor, and soon it will be exactly the same with pharmacies ," she says. By targeting generic drugs, the government intends to save 500 million euros.