Eu­rope looks to shore up med­i­cines sup­ply amid short­ages

Drug short­ages have im­pact­ed both the US and Eu­rope in re­cent years, and with Eu­rope see­ing a short­age in an­tibi­otics and in­sulin, mem­ber states are look­ing for so­lu­tions to im­prove the med­i­cine sup­ply.

In a four-page doc­u­ment, 19 EU mem­ber states say that short­ages have been steadi­ly in­creas­ing, with 75% of sur­veyed coun­tries re­port­ing last year that short­ages of phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals had wors­ened com­pared to the pre­vi­ous year. The doc­u­ment gives sev­er­al rea­sons for the short­ages, such as in­creas­es in de­mand, man­u­fac­tur­ing and qual­i­ty is­sues, fac­to­ry clo­sures and sup­ply chain bot­tle­necks, among oth­ers.

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