MEP Cindy Franssen Raises Important Questions Regarding Medicine Shortages in European Union
- 10/01/2020
- Articles
Member of the European Parliament Cindy Franssen submitted to the European Commission (the “Commission”) a series of interesting questions regarding medicine shortages (see, attachment). Broadly, the questions probe for (i) possible violations of Directive 2001/83/EC if pharmaceutical firms “caus[e] shortages [of medicines] on the basis of commercial decisions”; (ii) the measures which the Commission plans to take to tackle shortages; and (iii) the proposals which the Commission intends to put forward in order to enhance local production of medicines.
While some of these questions exhibit bias against the pharmaceutical industry, they are likely to prompt important answers from the Commission in relation to (i) the public service obligation associated with supplying medicines as contained in Article 81 of Directive 2001/83/EC; (ii) the initiatives which the Commission will take to address medicine shortages (see, Van Bael & Bellis Life Sciences Newsflash of 26 November 2019 and Van Bael & Bellis Life Sciences Newsflash of 11 September 2019); and (iii) calls made in various circles to make sure that the production of key pharmaceutical ingredients is moved to Europe (see for example, Van Bael & Bellis Life Sciences Newsflash of 9 July 2019).