After sending the Netflix series Emily in Paris to Rome, the Americans are in the process of taking away France's iconic medical drug. French pharma giant Sanofi plans to sell its paracetamol painkiller Doliprane to an American investment fund.

Doliprane, France's best-selling medical drug, can be found in every pharmacy around the country. It is so omnipresent that the French use 'Doliprane' as a generic name for any paracetamol product, even when it is made by a different manufacturer.

Sanofi wants to sell 50% of its subsidiary, which produces Doliprane. The company cited its aim to refocus on higher-profit drugs, such as vaccines and cancer treatment. While it's a common strategy in the pharmaceutical industry, critics mainly object to the choice of an American fund over the French fund which was also a candidate buyer.

The announcement last week that the production of the painkiller could fall into American hands sparked an outcry from politicians across the spectrum, citing concerns over French health sovereignty and fears that production might move out of the country. Just last January, France suffered shortages of Doliprane.