A new EU law will aim to prevent European countries from running out of vital medicines in future.
Ireland, along with other countries, is suffering shortages of hundreds of medicines. In many cases doctors are able to prescribe alternatives that are still in stock.
But if there are no alternatives, patients could be put in dangers.
The EU’s Critical Medicines Act will work to avoid that by encouraging manufactuers to set up production within the European Union.
The sector will also be encouraged to diversify supply chains and for different European countries to work together to procure drugs.
The European Commission has drawn up a list of the most vital medicines including antibiotics and anti-thrombotics, as well as cancer treatments and medicines to treat heart conditions.
“Critical medicines are those with limited or no alternatives and for which a shortage of supply would result in serious harm to patients”, the Commission says.
“They are medicines for which security of supply in the EU must be always ensured, for continuity of care, quality healthcare and the protection of public health protection across Europe. Certain provisions of the Act apply only to critical medicines that have specific vulnerabilities in their supply chain.”
The proposed new law, which will need to be approved by the European Parliament and EU health ministers, has been welcomed by consumer groups.
“When consumers need antibiotics, insulin or cardiovascular medicines, they must be able to find them easily in pharmacies. This is exactly what this Act aims to do which is good news for consumers who still face shortages in many European countries”, said Agustín Reyna from BEUC.
“If pharmaceutical companies are to get public money, this must be made conditional to ensure medicines are both available and affordable for consumers. They shouldn’t have to pay twice: as taxpayers and at the register.
We are happy that it will be easier for Member States to buy medicines together and get a better deal for rare diseases medicines which can be extremely expensive. We also expect to see this in practice for other innovative treatments, such as cancer medicines for which companies ask thousands of euros.”