European Union lawmakers and countries reach a provisional deal to address critical medicine shortages and boost local manufacturing.
BRUSSELS: European Union lawmakers and countries reached a deal Tuesday on new rules seeking to tackle shortages of essential drugs and boost manufacturing in Europe.
Supplies of key medicines such as antibiotics, insulin and painkillers have at times run low within the 27-nation bloc in recent years, due to supply chain snags and Europe’s over-reliance on Asia for key components.
Under the provisional accord struck by EU governments and parliament representatives national authorities will be obliged to look at diversifying supply sources when procuring critical medicines.
The deal allows authorities to apply an “EU preference” to procurement, and reward suppliers of drugs and active ingredients manufactured within the bloc, according to the EU parliament.
“Companies that produce medicines in Europe will be favoured in procurement procedures,” said Tomislav Sokol, the centre-right EU lawmaker who sponsored the text.
“Strategic projects will benefit from access to national and EU funding and from faster and more efficient permitting procedures.”
The deal, which follows an European Commission proposal, is provisional and needs to be officially endorsed by the European Council representing member states and the parliament before it is formally adopted.
According to a 2025 report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA), the EU countries reported running critically short of 136 drugs, including antibiotics and medicines used to treat heart attacks, between 2022 and 2024.
Cheaper prices mean that Asian producers now supply the EU with 70% of the active pharmaceutical ingredients it needs, the ECA said.
The dependency is particularly acute for painkillers, like paracetamol or ibuprofen, and drugs that ran critically low in recent years, including some antibiotics and salbutamol, an asthma drug sold under the brand name Ventolin.
