Being a healthcare stakeholder comes with a deep commitment to our patients and to professionals across the sector. This responsibility primarily means producing medicines and medical devices with the highest standards of quality. It also involves ensuring their proper use. And finally, it requires upholding the highest ethical standards. This is how UPSA defines what it means to do its job well.
Our responsibility
Ensuring the quality of our medicines
At UPSA, we do not compromise on quality. All our medicines are manufactured on our production lines in Agen (Lot-et-Garonne, France), a true testament to our French expertise for over 90 years. We rely upstream on rigorous and selective procurement processes, and downstream on meticulous controls at every stage of the manufacturing cycle. Throughout the year, we also conduct audits of our quality management systems and practices within our units, with a constant focus: ensuring a standard of excellence in quality.
But our responsibility goes even further. Our commitment to the quality of a medicine spans its entire lifecycle, in constant collaboration with Health Authorities (such as the ANSM in France): from its initial development to its market release following marketing authorization (MA) approval, and even in the event of regulatory changes. As long as our medicines are on the market, they remain under our pharmacovigilance oversight. Complaint handling is a key component of this process: every complaint results in the opening of a case file, a full investigation, and a formal response. This is our standard: to continuously improve the quality of our products.
Present in Africa for over 70 years, UPSA is actively fighting against the scourge of street and counterfeit medicines, which cause thousands of deaths every year. Our actions include securing the distribution chain through Meditect and raising awareness among local populations.
Assure the proper use of our medications
Our responsibility also extends to ensuring the proper use of our medications by both patients and healthcare professionals, including pharmacists.
Self-medication has now become a well-established practice within households. At UPSA, we firmly believe that everyone can become an autonomous and responsible actor in managing their daily health.
This is why we provide all patients with accessible, educational, and practical medical information:
- Online information: the website gammedafalgancaps.fr (proper use of paracetamol) and upsa-nosproduits.com (better understanding of symptoms and responsible self-medication);
- A medical information and pharmacovigilance service tailored for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, accessible via the UPSA or Sourdline websites.
UPSA develops innovative solutions to make medical information accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing patients.
Ensuring the proper use of our medications also means informing, training, and equipping our long-standing partners—the pharmacists. At UPSA, we regard the pharmacy as a full-fledged healthcare setting: due to its accessibility throughout the territory, the trustful relationships between pharmacists and patients, and the guarantee of the quality of the medicines offered. We stand alongside pharmacists to support them daily in fulfilling the core of their profession: providing expert advice.
Practicing with impeccable ethics
Finally, we also bear responsibility in the execution of our work. At UPSA, compliance is everyone’s business. Our employees, regardless of their role or activity, make decisions and act according to ethical principles. They are trained to ask the right questions and, at the slightest doubt, to raise an alert. Three essential procedures guide their daily work: the anti-corruption procedure, the conflict of interest procedure, and the whistleblowing system to report any compliance issues.This operational framework sets out ethical rules of individual behavior regardless of the professional context: relationships with clients, suppliers, colleagues, and competitors. This system ensures our integrity in carrying out our duties on a day-to-day basis.