European Parliament aims to improve availability of essential medicines

TALLINN - The European Parliament aims to ensure the best possible medical care for Europeans, reduce the European Union's dependence on third countries, and enhance the competitiveness and production capacity of its pharmaceutical industry, given that over 50 percent of all medicine shortages are due to manufacturing issues.

The European Parliament supports identifying strategic projects to create new manufacturing facilities in the EU and to modernize and improve existing ones.

The Parliament believes member states and the EU should financially support strategic priority projects from both the current EU budget and the next multiannual financial framework. In exchange for public financial backing, companies would be required to make firm commitments, such as prioritizing the needs and supplies for the EU market.

The Parliament also suggests that procurement authorities should include conditions in tenders that favor manufacturers who produce a significant portion of their medicines within the European Union.

Furthermore, procurement authorities could voluntarily favor joint procurement, particularly for orphan drugs, antibiotics, and innovative, highly expensive, or specific medicines, as this would also enhance availability. The Parliament believes the Commission should organize joint procurement on behalf of member states if requested by at least five EU countries, while the Commission's recommended threshold is nine.

To prevent medicine shortages, a pan-European coordination mechanism for national and contingency stockpiles should be established. In the event of supply disruptions or shortages, the European Commission should, as a last resort, be able to intervene and order the redistribution of medicines from national stockpiles to countries in need.

Rapporteur Tomislav Sokol (EPP, Croatia) said that the priorities are clear: national stockpiles must be coordinated, the competitiveness of EU pharmaceutical companies must be improved, and medicine shortages must become a thing of the past.

"Essential medicines must always be available to EU patients. We also want to improve public procurement. When procuring medicines, price cannot be the only criterion. Security of supply, supply chain resilience, and manufacturing within the EU must also be considered. European customers should prefer European products and support reliable companies, EU-based production, and a predictable security of supply," he remarked.

The report was adopted in the plenary session with 503 votes in favor, 57 against, and 108 abstentions. Parliament is now ready to begin negotiations with the Council on the final text of the legislation.