The National Drug Manufacturers attended the first meeting of the EU Critical Medicines Alliance (April 25), which is designed to assist the European Commission in preventing drug shortages. The basis of its activities is the EU list of critical medicines.
National Drug Manufacturers postulate in Brussels that Poland should be on the EU's critical drug production map
Published April 25, 2024 10:50
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The European Medicines Agency (EMA) published the first version of the EU's list of critical medicines last December 12. It identified products for which continuity of supply is required, and where interruption of treatment could result in serious health damage. Two criteria were taken into account: the severity of the disease and the availability of alternative medicines.
More than 90% of the EU's list of critical medicines are essential off-patent drugs that can be manufactured in our country.
- In Poland we have factories, competence and huge development potential. We are a large country with a strategic location. We can become a production base for the Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Therefore, we should be an important point on the EU's pharmaceutical production map," Grzegorz Rychwalski, vice president of National Drug Manufacturers, said at the Alliance meeting in Brussels.
The National Drug Manufacturers joined the Critical Medicines Alliance, which included all stakeholders, to prepare concrete actions and possible policy solutions in a collaborative effort between the European Commission, national governments, industry and civil society.
National Drug Manufacturers will work in the Alliance to restore the competitiveness of drug production in the EU, to reduce drug shortages by rewarding security of supply in public procurement and reimbursement, and to introduce a comprehensive strategy to prevent shortages using proven experience, such as Poland's ZSMOPL (Integrated System for Monitoring the Marketing of Medicines). It is also necessary to accelerate the European Commission's efforts to introduce support mechanisms for the production of essential medicines and their components in the EU, taking into account the even distribution of this production across the Union.
- We expect support for our sector to take shape in the EU's Critical Medicines Regulations, which will include subsidies for necessary investments in production technology, market policies that support supply chain diversification and resilience, and digital tools and commitments based on EU solidarity to eliminate the risk of shortages," points out Grzegorz Rychwalski.
Poland has also joined the Alliance and is involved in its work. We are the fifth largest drug market in the European Union, also threatened by shortages. Besides, our pharmaceutical industry has untapped potential, which should share in building Europe's drug security.
The first step of the national effort should be the preparation of a Polish list of critical drugs.
- We hope that our Government will finalize the Polish list of critical medicines. The Ministry of Development and Technology has been working on such a list for a long time, as it is one of the milestones in the National Recovery Plan (NRP). It is necessary to speed up this work, because the funds from the NIP should be accounted for in 2026, by which time it is impossible to make investments in the production of new pharmaceutical substances. Therefore, it is necessary to divide these investments into stages and account for the first one. We hope that the government will prepare effective tools so that most of the critical drugs will be produced in Poland," postulates Krzysztof Kopeć, president of the National Drug Manufacturers.
Source: National Drug Manufacturers
