For example, in the production of active ingredients, Europe’s market share by value has slumped. While it exceeded 80% at the end of the 1990s, it had fallen to 48% by 2014. “Today, it’s closer to 30%, and it’s likely to drop further,” noted Vincent Touraille, president of SICOS, France’s union of players in the organic chemistry and biochemistry industries. Meanwhile, China and India have soared to reach respective market shares of 35% and 20%.
A study conducted by German generic drug industry association Pro Generika found that at least three commonly used antibiotics – doxycycline, clarithromycin and cefaclor – now have only one or two manufacturers left in Europe. More broadly, 80% of the active ingredients in medicines consumed on the continent now come from India or China.
Is this mainly due to downsizing and moving production or just India and China catching up with their own production?
This is a big subject in France right now (le monde is a French newspaper) because a very common French drug brand was recently sold to American investors: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2024/10/14/sale-of-french-painkiller-to-american-firm-sparks-uproar_6729399_7.html
Yet the article above leads with a picture of a brand new Sanofi factory.
Not sure I want to contradict you; frankly the discrepancy between this article’s title and content confuses me.
I don’t have an opinion either way, I’m just relaying what’s in the media. I would say that a single factory doesn’t say much of anything about larger trends in the industry though.
Capitalism doesn’t favor any particular country, just the lowest bidder.
Chief among their demands is an increase in medicine prices, arguing that treatments are not adequately valued in Europe.
Up until a few months ago it was record profits, top 10 stock valuation and they didn’t know what to throw the money at. Did they already burn all that?
The yacht fleets don’t pay for themselves.
If it’s a matter of sovereignty, there is a simple solution: Nationalise it.
I don’t really understand how the title relates to the article, which mostly points out that European drug manufacturers can’t sell so much stuff in the USA anymore, which is apparently a huge market.
So what? Markets shift, markets change, yadda yadda.
I wish news outlets would use equally dramatic titles when people’s pay can’t keep up with cost of living.
PS: I keep confusing Le Monde and Le Monde Diplomatique. Damn.
There’s incredibly little potential to make this idiotic panic shit title more melodramatic.
That’s 9 rubles on your account though.
That’s 9 rubles on your account though.
https://feddit.org/post/20203593 from Hotznplotzn.
Hybrid threats force Poland to tighten medicine supply controls as the country aims to wean itself off Asia for essential drugs
18 rubels
What’s the threat vector? Destroy Europe by highlighting its problems? The danger comes from ignoring the dependency. You are right, the title is melodramatic. But doesn’t the risk still exist? We are preparing for a war that may start from 2027 onwards. Even if India is on our side, how do we get the ingredients safely?
While Europe has been shaken in the area of mature medicines, it can at least pride itself on having preserved, relatively intact, the field of so-called innovative medicines. Their development and manufacturing processes are more complex than those of older, chemically based medicines, putting them out of reach of Asian competitors. And although these treatments account for only a small portion of patient consumption, with generics making up 70% of prescription volumes on the continent, they are also the most profitable segment of the market.
Meanwhile … China, which until now had focused on manufacturing lower value-added products such as generics and active ingredients, now aims to become a major player in innovative medicines. Thanks to highly ambitious public policies, China is investing heavily in research and development and bio-production to accelerate its move upmarket. Clinical trials are multiplying across the country, and Chinese companies are increasingly forming partnerships with Western laboratories to develop new medicines. Trapped between these two global giants, Europe will have to fight hard to avoid a steep decline. [Emphasis mine.]
As far as I understand, it seems quite clear what measures Europe (and its allies) should take at least regarding China seeking partnerships with Western laboratories to maintain independence in this innovative medicines. Europe should collaborate in these sensitive areas with like-minded democracies rather than autocracies known for bullying others as soon as they think it is advantageous to them and to them alone.
