This portal, maintained by the French Public Health Board (Direction Générale de la Santé), gathers together health agencies placed under the tutelage of the Public Health Ministry.
The "recruitment and job descriptions" heading directs you to the jobsites of these agencies: Biomedical Agency, French Food Safety Agency (AFSSA), French Health Products Safety Agency (AFSSAPS), French Agency for Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (AFSSET), Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS), National Institute for Prevention and Health Education (INPES), French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), Health Monitoring Institute (InVS), French School of Advanced Studies in Public Health (EHESP), and the Public Health Database (BDSP).
We have learned that in October 2007 the HAS granted funding for theses or postdocs for an amount of 20,000€ per year renewable twice "on presentation of a research progress report." Keep an eye out.
And to explore pharmaceutical companies, don't forget about the "drug company" listings at http://www.leem.org. We might point out that in late 2007, they published a downloadable brochure entitled "Health innovation 2015: in defense of the life sciences" (“Innovation Santé 2015, plaidoyer pour les sciences du vivant") Unfortunately, the picture it paints of the life sciences scene is not very rosy.