Medicines for Europe urges stronger supply security measures in Critical Medicines Act trilogues
Medicines for Europe has published a letter urging EU co-legislators to ensure that the proposed Critical Medicines Act (CMA) delivers meaningful demand-side measures to address structural causes of medicines shortages. The letter calls for alignment on a compromise reflecting the CMA’s original objectives of strengthening EU strategic autonomy, supply diversification and solidarity. Medicines for Europe argues that economic root causes contribute to approximately 50% of shortages and links price-driven procurement practices, including widespread use of single-winner tenders and lowest-price awards, to market fragility and supplier consolidation. It states that 74% of countries use single-winner tenders and that up to 84% of procedures are awarded solely on the basis of lowest price. It supports mandatory security-of-supply award criteria for hospital medicines procured through tenders, representing 52% of critical medicines, and calls for pricing and reimbursement measures to be included in national security-of-supply plans for retail medicines, representing 48%. Medicines for Europe warns that, without meaningful demand-side provisions in Articles 18 and 19, the CMA will fall short of its objective to improve the availability, supply and production of critical medicines in the EU.