EU tackles medicine supply

EU Steering Group set up to provide strategic leadership

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An EU Executive Steering Group on shortages of medicines caused by major events has been set up to provide strategic leadership for urgent and coordinated action within the EU in case of a crisis caused by major events. The group has already discussed measures aimed at addressing the impact of the outbreak of COVID-19 on the supply of medicines in the EU. The group will work on identifying and coordinating EU-wide actions to address disruptions of the supply of medicines, due to temporary lockdowns of manufacturing sites or travel restrictions or other factors. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and national medicines regulators are monitoring the potential impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on medicines and sharing information via the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) network on shortages. SPOCs are contact points at each human and veterinary medicines regulatory agency in the European Union/European Economic Area responsible for sharing information with other SPOCs and coordinating subsequent actions in relation to shortages and availability of authorised medicines. For more information read here.  
Tags: covid-19