At the request of the Minister for Health, the Agency acquires, manufactures, imports, stores, transports, distributes and exports the products and services needed to protect the population from serious health threats. It is also responsible for renewing and destroying them under the same conditions.
At the request of the Minister for Health, the Agency may also carry out the same actions for medicinal products, medical devices or their accessories or in vitro diagnostic medical devices or their accessories which meet public health, therapeutic or diagnostic needs not otherwise covered, which are the subject of a marketing break or cessation, insufficient production or when all the necessary forms are not available. It may hold an ex officio licence as referred to in Article L. 613-16 of the French Intellectual Property Code.
The Agency’s actions concerning the medicinal products, products and articles mentioned in article L. 4211-1 are carried out by one or more pharmaceutical establishments which, where appropriate, ensure their exploitation. These establishments are opened by the Agency and are subject to the provisions of articles L. 5124-2, L. 5124-3, L. 5124-4, with the exception of the last paragraph, L. 5124-5, L. 5124-6 and L. 5124-11.