The medical association once again warns against overdependence on China when it comes to the supply of medicines.
The last European factory that produces the active substance metamizole will close in 2025. The product is better known under the trade name Novalgin and has analgesic, antispasmodic and antipyretic effects. “If a large pharmaceutical company like Euroapi closes its branch in Germany after more than a hundred years and moves its metamizole production to China, then something is wrong,” Harald Mayer of the ÖAK said on Wednesday.
EU strategy required
The closure of the site would lead to “total dependence on the Chinese market” for this active ingredient. “We must strive for exactly the opposite in Europe: autonomy in supplying the population with the most important medicines – this also includes painkillers,” said Mayer, vice-president of the ÖÄK and chairman of the Federal Curia of Working Doctors.
The EU must commit to independent drug production in Europe and “finally develop a strategy against the overexploitation of its own drug production,” said Johannes Steinhart, chairman of ÖAK. Early this year, in a joint resolution with the German Medical Association, the ÖÄK called on the EU and the pharmaceutical industry to take decisive and joint action against bottlenecks in the supply of medicines.
Source: Krone
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