Our organisations, representing patients, consumers, healthcare professionals and public health interests, very much welcome the INI report on the shortage of medicines voted by the European Parliament on September 17th 2020. We remind that shortages of medicines entail considerable risks for the health and safety of patients, the interests of whom must always come first in any policy aimed at fighting this global threat.

The report recommends several actions that shall contribute to better prevention and management of medicine shortages in Europe. Our organisations jointly call for prioritisation of the following initiatives:

In addition, we believe that diversifying the sources of production of API, raw materials and finished pharmaceutical products is probably more important to fight shortages of medicines than the relocation of production alone, which may not prevent quality issues or problems on the production chain. Nevertheless, if pursued, public funding aimed at incentivising diversification and/or relocation of pharmaceutical production must always be fully transparent and conditioned to clear supply obligations on the European market, as well as accessibility and affordability of manufactured medicines.

We therefore invite the EU institutions and Member States to follow up on the above-highlighted priorities and we urge the European Commission to include them in the upcoming pharmaceutical strategy, as well as in other relevant EU policy actions.

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MEPs vote for action on medicines shortages - what should be the next steps? - EPHA - European Public Health Alliance