Fixing the Chain: How to Secure the EU’s Supply of Critical Medicines and Prevent Shortages
The EU’s pharmaceutical supply chain faces unprecedented vulnerabilities, experiencing shortages of medicines and is at risk of further shortages due to economic pressure, manufacturing and supply concentration, and other root causes. Proposed in March 2025, the Critical Medicines Act marks a shift from crisis management to proactive industrial and access policy. This brief examines how through this Act and complementary efforts, the EU can operationalise the principles of open economic security in this area , strengthening domestic capabilities, while preserving the benefits of global trade and outlines concrete policy steps to secure Europe’s medicine supply without compromising patient access or economic competitiveness concerns.
Read the full Policy Brief here.
Samuel Goodger is Policy Analyst in the Social Europe and Wellbeing Programme.
Elizabeth Kuiper is EPC Associate Director and Head of the Social Europe and Wellbeing Programme.
Paweł Świeboda is Senior Visiting Fellow at the European Policy Centre, and Co-Director of the Brussels Economic Security Forum.
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