Healthcare

Healthcare is one of France’s strategic priorities. The country’s healthcare system is renowned throughout the world for its universal coverage, its quality, its efficiency and its capacity for innovation.

The sector in figures

• €90 billion in revenues generated in 2023 by healthcare industries in France, of which 35% was from exports.
• More than 3,100 life science businesses and around 455,000 jobs.
• More than 2,660 innovative SMEs in healthcare (including 820 Biotech, 1,393 Medtech and 450 digital healthcare and artificial intelligence businesses).

Source: Snitem panorama, 2023

France’s ambitions

The aim is to make France the leading innovative European nation in healthcare.

A healthcare system that protects the entire population

In France, 68.7 million people are covered by health insurance and the number of reimbursements reached €185 billion in 2021. In total, 35% of the population is covered for an illness and/or chronic treatment, with an average annual spend of €4,680.

Quality research and effective public R&D support systems

The “Healthcare Innovation Plan 2030”, corresponding to the healthcare component of “France 2030”, reflects France’s strong ambitions in terms of innovation in the healthcare sectors, with a budget of €7.5 billion, which is distributed as follows:

• €1 billion to strengthen biomedical research.
• €500 million to support the development of technologies and clinical trials.
• €2.4 billion for acceleration strategies for biotherapies, digital healthcare, emerging infectious diseases, NRBC (Nuclear, Radiological, Biological, Chemical) risks and medical technologies.
• €1.5 billion to support industrial investments through national and European calls for projects to better support the development of healthcare innovations.
• €2.1 billion to support the emergence, growth and industrialization of healthcare startups by Bpifrance (the French public investment bank).

A strong ecosystem

France has many recognized University Hospital Institutes.

Five bioclusters spread across the entire country bring together key players in research, care and training, as well as industrialists. Their aims are to facilitate public/private partnerships, fast-track the development of startups, attract talent and investors, and promote very high-level research.

Institutes recognized around the world, such as the Institut Pasteur, a key player in biomedical research at the international level, thanks to its network of 33 institutes present in 26 countries.

The French Healthcare brand is a public-private initiative which brings together, under one banner, all French healthcare stakeholders (businesses, healthcare establishments, research institutes, innovation centers, researchers, industrialists and healthcare professionals, etc.), with the aim of promoting their activities, expertise, technologies and innovations internationally.

• The American group Pfizer announced in May 2024 an investment of €500 million over five years aimed at strengthening the research and development ecosystem in France, particularly through clinical research collaborations and increased clinical trials, in areas such as oncology and hematology, as well as pharmaceutical production in France.

• The announcement made by the American pharmaceutical group Lilly in October 2023 of a new investment, worth €160 million, in its Fegersheim site, in the Grand Est region, has once again shown its dedication to the skills of its Grand Est-based teams and the quality of its production of injectable drugs. In operation since 1967, this site has already benefited from nearly €500 million in investments in recent years.

• The Lebanese laboratory Benta is investing €13 million in its factory in Saint-Genis-Laval, near Lyon (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region), to return six own-brand generic drugs to France.