24/03/2020 (Agence Europe) – On Tuesday 24 March, EPP MEP Nathalie Colin-Oesterlé (France) announced on her Twitter account that she had been given the task of drafting an own-initiative report to the European Parliament on medicines shortages. The report will be entitled ‘Medicines shortages: dealing with an emerging problem’. When EUROPE spoke to her, Colin-Oesterlé stressed the need to address this issue, which has been magnified by the coronavirus crisis. She did, however, say that this report would not just deal with Covid-19 and might also discuss medical equipment and access to innovative medicines. At this stage, we do not know either the timetable or the names of the shadow rapporteurs. According to Charlotte Roffiaen, who is responsible for European affairs at France Assos Santé, medicines shortages are on the increase in the EU. There were 1,400 notifications in France alone in 2019, compared to 40 in 2013. (SPj)