The Critical Medicines Alliance (CMA) - a consultative mechanism bringing together relevant stakeholders from Member States, industry, civil society and the scientific community - has invited the European Commission to take into account its recommendations, published on Friday 28 February, when developing measures to strengthen the resilience of critical medicines supply chains.
In particular, the Alliance “looks forward to the legislation on critical medicines, which the Commission is expected to present shortly”, reads the CMA’s report.
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/fpi
As far as the main industrial challenges are concerned, the CMA reports: - overreliance on a limited number of geographical locations for the provision of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and raw materials; - the erosion of the EU manufacturing base; - the lack of competitiveness and investment in European industry.
With the objective of strengthening European manufacturing of Critical Medicines, the Alliance recommends investment in EU strategic projects. It also calls for financial support, based on a combination of EU funding programmes and national state aid.
In order to ensure the security of supply of Critical Medicines, the CMA recommends a harmonised and balanced framework of stockpiling requirements complemented with virtuous public procurement practices. It also calls for a systematic integration of essential procurement criteria like supply security, resilience, and environmental impact.
To enhance the resilience of the EU supply chains, today’s Report recommends leveraging existing partnerships with third countries and building new ones. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)