One of the priorities of the European Commission and the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU is to find solutions to the shortage of essential medicines in EU countries, Euractiv reports.
Today’s launch of the Critical Medicines Alliance will strengthen the production of critical medicines in the EU and diversify international supply chains. This is a crucial step in our fight against drug shortages and in reducing the EU’s dependence on third countries.
The Critical Medicines Alliance marks the starting point for a new kind of co-operation between the Commission, national governments, industry and civil society, building on the successful precedents of alliances for batteries and raw materials.
Drug shortages are increasingly becoming a problem for patients in the EU. This year, with infections on the rise across the EU, people are buying antibiotics en masse from pharmacies, which are available in limited quantities. These are structural problems due to increasing shortages in recent years and this situation is unacceptable.
In addition to the serious consequences for patients when critical medicines become unavailable, there are geopolitical issues that need to be addressed. The pandemic and wars in Europe and the Middle East have made it clear that structural vulnerabilities in drug supply chains must be solved as a top political priority.
To protect the health and safety of citizens, Europe must step up its game when it comes to the production and supply of essential medicines.
The Critical Medicines Alliance will help set the agenda and change the way medicines are produced and procured to better protect patients. Governments, industry, health professionals and civil society will work together to find solutions to address the problem.
This could mean increasing European production capacity for essential medicines and components by creating new production lines or building new plants. It could also lead to finding new partners abroad to diversify the supply of essential ingredients.
The alliance will promote innovation and modernisation of EU production capacity as part of Europe’s green and digital transition.
As a first step towards the establishment of the Alliance, interested experts from Member States, industry, health and civil society will be able to participate in a selection procedure for the Alliance, which will run until 16 February, with a view to attending its meetings in spring 2024.
In the meantime, the Commission will begin analysing the supply chain vulnerabilities of a number of essential medicines, for which the Alliance will develop recommendations on actions to be taken to improve their supply.
The Alliance will also support and guide the investments needed at national and EU level to achieve its ambitious targets.
Fighting medicine shortages in Member States certainly does not mean closing the doors to our international partners. With the support of the Alliance, the EU will simultaneously work to strengthen international partnerships to diversify supply chains and improve the security of supply of medicines globally.
