Post by Centrient Pharmaceuticals

Europe is facing a difficult but necessary truth: we cannot secure the supply of essential antibiotics while leaving European manufacturers to compete on price alone against heavily supported production outside the EU. Antibiotics are a clear example. European producers operate under high standards for quality, environment, labour and compliance. At the same time, competitors elsewhere benefit from scale, overcapacity and forms of state support that are not available in Europe. That is not a level playing field. And over time, it creates dangerous dependencies for medicines that Europe cannot afford to lose access to. The answer is not to close markets. It is to ensure fair competition and to support strategically important manufacturing capacity with greater consistency and ambition. If Europe says resilience, health security and security of supply matter, that must be reflected in policy — including how we value quality, sustainability and responsible production. At Centrient, with two manufacturing sites in Europe, we see these pressures first-hand. Europe still has the expertise and industrial base to remain strong in essential antibiotics. Europe has shown it is willing to back that base, and the EU has begun to take the lead through initiatives like the Critical Medicines Act. Now Member States need to follow through and make it happen. This is where the hard part begins — where difficult choices will need to be made: in public and private procurement, in ensuring preferential access for critical medicines manufactured in Europe for Europe, and in setting higher standards for quality, resilience and sustainability in deciding which medicines earn a place on pharmacy shelves. #CriticalMedicinesAct #Antibiotics #HealthSecurity #EUManufacturing #Sustainability #ESG