PARIS, May 29 (Reuters) - The French government has told

drugmaker Servier it is against any sale of its generics

subsidiary Biogaran, which has a market share of almost a third

in the country, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said on Wednesday.

French media reported last month that Servier had asked

potential suitors to file their offers by mid-June.

"Biogaran is a French jewel ... it (the brand) is one out of

eight medicine packs sold in our country. It represents more

than 8,500 direct and indirect jobs throughout France as well as

thousands of molecules that are useful, necessary for our

health," Attal told lawmakers.

"Dealing with a company as strategic as Biogaran, we have

been very clear with Servier: we do not wish that they sell

Biogaran."

Last month, the French government told ailing IT consulting

firm Atos it was intent on acquiring all of its

activities it deems strategic as the company restructures its

debt.

"If Servier nonetheless opts for a sale of Biogaran, we

would consider activating the screening of foreign investments

in France, which we have significantly strengthened since 2017,

a procedure that allows us to guarantee our sovereignty," Attal

said.

"We will monitor this case very closely, and I say it here

loud and clear, any non-European buyer should be ready for

drastic conditions even he nourished any hopes to buy Biogaran,"

Attal added.

Servier, an unlisted company which was recently in the news

for being ordered to pay a more than $470-million fine in

connection with the weight-loss pill Mediator, declined to make

any comment when contacted by Reuters.

Since Sanofi, France's largest pharmaceutical

company, missed out on the race for COVID-19 vaccines several

years ago, the issue of "health sovereignty" is high up on the

list of the French government.

(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Diana Mandia; Editing

by Tassilo Hummel and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)