EU looks to reduce reliance on China medicines
standard a medicine manufacturer must meet in their production processes .)
Zweig adds that such an approach would also require infrastructure to receive and store the primary packaged product from the previous stages of the supply chain . “ Carrying out the on-site secondary packaging would need basic additional raw materials , such as cardboard , adhesives and printer cartridges , plus manual labour supplied locally , and the presence of a quality organisation and maintenance team .”
If companies seek to localise earlier stages of the manufacturing process , Zweig states that complexity levels then rise correspondingly , “ with increased needs for complex raw materials , skilled labour and higher capital outlay to build sites for highertechnology manufacturing ”.
Localising ingredients ‘ a challenge ’ In terms of localising at the earliest stage of pharma supply chains – or API ( Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient ) manufacturing , which is the biologically active component of a drug product – Zweig says it is “ the most significant challenge ”.
In its paper , EY concludes that although localising API manufacturing will result in far greater agility , there would be negative impacts on other important supply chain metrics , such as reliability , time to innovate , risk exposure and efficiency .
Zweig says that focusing on the lower-cost , lower-complexity option of localising finished goods rather than the manufacturing process itself “ will likely improve the reliability of product supply because more of the product would be locally stockpiled for distribution ”. But he also goes on to warn that “ this process would
EU looks to reduce reliance on China medicines
A collective of 19 EU member states have called for the bloc to reduce its dependency on China for medicine supplies .
The countries – including France , Belgium , Spain and the Netherlands – have signed a newly-published paper titled , ‘ Improving the security of medicines supply in Europe ’, which warns that the EU is too “ dependent ” on China .
Not only did the paper conclude that Europe ’ s drug production is too dependent on China , but it urged ministers to compile a list of critical medicines that should be monitored to shore up their supply , production and value chains .
The paper said : “ The EU is becoming increasingly dependent on imports from a few manufacturers and regions for its medicines supply , adding a [ new ] security dimension . In 2019 , 40 % of all active pharmaceutical ingredients were sourced from China .”
It noted “ almost all ” active pharmaceutical ingredient producers are now dependent on China for intermediate inputs .
It said : “ As a result , Europe , and the world , depends on a few manufacturers for a large bulk of their medicine supply ”.
The paper ’ s release coincided with wider supply concerns , as the EU has been forced to confront severe medicine shortages over the past few months .
Essential medicines – such as antibiotics , thrombolytics and insulin – have all been in short supply , as well as antipyretics and painkillers .
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