02/04/2020 (Agence Europe) – After masks and materials, a new shortage threatens. This is how MEP François-Xavier Bellamy (EPP, France) raised the alarm on Twitter on Thursday 2 April. In a letter to Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, he says that with the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for curares (medicine used for intubation), hypnotics, corticosteroids and some antibiotics has increased by more than 2000% worldwide and that production cannot keep pace. Fearing that this could put hospital structures at risk, the MEP asked Mr Breton to outline his approach to the issue. He sees the need to relocate medicine production, to speak with one voice in the global pharmaceutical market and to mobilise stocks in a consistent manner without border barriers. (SPj)