The Arthur D. Little report states that the level of job cuts would be the consequence of official bodies failing to adopt a "proactive" approach to the challenges facing the French industry.
By tackling pricing pressures, generic competition, changing areas of growth, the break up of the traditional value chain as a result of the rise of biotechnology and the internationalisation of competition the report claims job cuts could be reduced to 10,000.
If a "status quo" approach is adopted reductions to the workforce of 28 per cent are predicted. The report claims this can be reduced to 8 per cent if "proactive" policies are implemented.
The "proactive" policies regarding pharmaceutical manufacturing in France centre on the maintenance of the nations current small chemical molecule production sites. The report believes this can be achieved through management of product life cycles in the existing sites.
In addition to this the report recommends the creation of hubs for medicinal product manufacture in the Seine and Loire river valleys and in the Drouais region.
A focus on biologics is also recommended, taking advantage of the French industries expertise in vaccine development.
By using the Genzyme and Sanofi-Aventis sites as focal points hubs for the production of vaccines and biologics should be established in the Rhône valley and part of the Auvergne.
Beyond this further biologics production facilities should be set up in Alsace and the border region, centered on the Eli Lilly site at Fegersheim and the BioValley competitiveness hub.
There have already been moves within France to make the nation's pharmaceutical industry more biologics-centric.
This strategy has been championed by industry body France Biotech, which has called on French President Nicolas Sarkozy to introduce new tax regimes for innovative companies.
Investment in the biologics sector has skyrocketed over the last few years, rising from €167m in 2005 to €625m from January to mid-September 2007.
Despite this the French biologics industry still lags behind its counterparts, with France Biotech placing it third or fourth in Europe in September 2007, depending on which indicator was used.
This situation needs to be rectified if the French pharmaceutical industry is to survive in the challenging market conditions which are putting the squeeze on the whole sector.
