Pharma industry urges putting medicine supply at heart of European security
In an interview with Dienas Bizness, a European pharmaceutical industry representative says medicine supply has been strained by the pandemic, wars and tariffs. He calls for integrating it into national security systems and keeping production in Europe.
A representative of the European pharmaceutical industry told the Latvian business daily Dienas Bizness that medicine supply should be built into national and European security systems. In his view, European Union countries have faced a series of shocks in recent years that threaten the availability of medicines, which makes keeping production capacity in Europe a security matter.
A chain of challenges
During the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, demand for certain hospital medicines rose by as much as 800%, followed by the task of producing vaccines and then by inflation. Russia's invasion of Ukraine added pressure, since Europe has historically imported medicines and medical goods from both Russia and Ukraine, while Ukrainian medical warehouses were hit by drone and missile attacks. The conflict in the Middle East disrupted supply routes and raised the price of oil and natural gas, which are key raw materials in drug manufacturing. The interviewee also points to US tariffs on pharmaceuticals and to Europe's higher energy, labour and regulatory costs. More and more production capacity is moving to Asia, although Europe remains one of the world's largest producers of medicines.
Critical Medicines Act
Europe has approved the Critical Medicines Act. Until now, 85% of medicine procurement was not linked to supply stability, and a single supplier with the lowest price won. The plan is to move to choosing several suppliers using criteria that account for supply security and diversification.
Proposals for security
The industry wants the EU and NATO to agree on cooperation with manufacturers, and countries to agree between their defence and health ministries. He argues that no military stockpile can cover supply for more than a few weeks, so production must be scalable in a crisis. Generic medicines make up about 70% of the market, and up to 90% among critical medicines. The European Commission's Medical Countermeasures Strategy sets out action for major catastrophes. He adds that Latvia has a developed pharmaceutical sector for its size.
