Why does the lack of medicines appear in EU countries. The report of the Court of European Accounts

The European Union has not yet found a solution to medicines and has to strengthen the European Medicines Agency, a report of the EU Court of Accounts published on Wednesday, AFP reports, taken over by AGERPRES.

The Union identified the causes of the problem, especially the vulnerabilities of the supply chain; A great Mars from the production of drugs is done in Asia. However, the political reaction of the 27 Member States is not at height, the Court appreciates.

According to the report, the EU has taken an important step since the end of 2023, establishing the first list of critical drugs, but did not act enough to guarantee their availability.

The Court welcomes the “important coordination role” of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), but it criticizes that it is not always empowered to help the member countries outside the situations of sanitary crises. Ema is not sufficiently informed about the streams in order to prevent them, finds the cited audit.

Health is an area of ​​competence of each Member State, not the Union, emphasizes the report, mentioning the lack of harmonization of national regulations. For example, in France a shortage should be reported “as soon as there is a risk of stock exhaustion”, while in Italy the warning must come “four months before any interruption of supply”.

The Court of Critical Accounts and the fragmentation of the European Medicines Market, which makes their free movement, including for reasons such as different packaging from one country.

Among other recommendations, the Court asks the European Commission to take measures to guarantee the rapid notification of the EMA on the actions. According to the Court, the Agency should manage a database with medicines and a unique signal platform.