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Drug shortages: Prescrire calls for transparency

 Advancing Healthcare Policy   In a joint letter to the European Commission, Prescrire, the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) and France Assos Santé have called for medicine manufacturers and wholesalers to keep the EU's national drug regulatory agencies informed about stock levels.
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In October 2023, ahead of the publication of a Communication from the European Commission on addressing medicine shortages in the European Union (EU), a joint letter was sent to the Commission by Prescrire, the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) and the patient rights umbrella organisation France Assos Santé (1,2).

The Commission is in favour of introducing a "Voluntary Solidarity Mechanism" across EU member states to address drug shortages. The cosignatories of the letter emphasised that transparency about drug stocks will be needed if such a mechanism is to work. They urged the Commission to call for the introduction of requirements for manufacturers and wholesalers that provide information on stock levels to the EU's national drug regulatory agencies.

References
1- European Commission "Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions": 19 pages. 2- EPHA-FAS-Prescrire "Joint letter" 17 October 2023: 1 page.
 

©Prescrire 1 July 2024

Source: "Drug shortages: Prescrire calls for transparency" Prescrire Int 2024; 33 (261): 195. Free.

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