Medicine shortages
Drug scarcities: Why medicines are still in short supply. A cross-border investigation
Over the past 20 years, Europe has seen a 20-fold increase in drug shortages. Governments, including Romania’s, have used the Ukraine war and the energy crisis to obscure other – mostly structural – causes. This Europe-wide investigation (in which PressOne participated) reveals a range of explanations for Europe’s missing medicines. Medicines crisis: Europe taken by surprise On 15 December 2022, the European Medicines Agency (EMA, the EU body responsible for medicine safety) announced that almost all EU countries are facing shortages of medicines. Experts had expected a harsh winter that would test healthcare systems once again, due to Covid-19
Parallel exports and the problem with Greek drug shortage statistics
In Greece, medicine shortages are severely under-reported by the responsible government body. Meanwhile, the illegal export of medicines is an important part of the problem.
Why Europe is running out of meds, again
In the past 20 years drug shortages have surged in Europe. Governments have recently used the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis to cover up the real – far more structural – reasons behind them.
