Brussels, 16 January 2024
The European Commission’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) launched today an open call for expression of interest to join the Critical Medicines Alliance. The set up of the Alliance is one of the key actions to prevent and address shortages of critical medicines announced by the Commission in October 2023.
The Alliance will bring together all relevant stakeholders, and work to strengthen cooperation between the Commission, national governments, industry, and civil society. It will identify the challenges, priorities for action, and possible policy solutions to the issue of shortages of critical medicines in the EU. The Alliance is a consultative mechanism that will also act as a network to accelerate the delivery of EU action in this field.
Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said:
“Today’s launch of the work on a Critical Medicines Alliance is another chapter for our European Health Union. It marks the beginning of a concerted push to bolster and modernise the production of critical medicines in the EU and diversify international supply chains. As a new industrial pillar of our strong European Health Union, the Alliance will help to change the way we produce and procure medicines and ultimately reinforce our security of supply. With this initiative, we will ensure that governments, industry, health professionals and civil society work closer together than ever before to identify solutions to ensure patients are better protected and always have access to the medicines they need.”
More information is available on the press release online.
Source – EU Commission