The Cyprus presidency of the EU Council reached a provisional agreement with the European Parliament on the Critical Medicines Act (CMA), a new regulation aiming at tackling shortages of key medicines such as antibiotics, insulin and painkillers by improving security of supply and availability of critical medicines, and medicines of common interest in the EU.
The new rules seek to diversify supply chains of critical medicines, make it easier for EU countries to join forces to procure critical medicines, and strengthen the manufacturing capacity for critical medicines and their active ingredients within the EU.
The elements of the agreement concern mainly four aspects:
- Public procurement procedures
- Collaborative procurement
- Contingency stocks safeguards
- Orphan medicines
Next steps
The provisional agreement will now have to be endorsed by the Council and the Parliament. It will then formally be adopted by both institutions following legal-linguistic revision.
More information HERE
