Health & Beauty

According to the Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report, the European energy crisis has affected many industries. A number of generic drug manufacturers "complain": due to the soaring cost of electricity and raw materials, it is more difficult for generic drugs with low profits to make money, so they consider stopping the production of some drugs.

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, on the eve of the special meeting of the Council of the European Union to discuss measures to deal with the energy crisis, the European Pharmaceutical Industry Federation sent an open letter to the ministers of energy and health of EU member states and the members of the European Commission in charge of key affairs on the 27th, calling on the EU to take measures to reduce the cost burden of pharmaceutical enterprises.

As a pharmaceutical lobby group, the European Pharmaceutical Industry Federation represents a number of pharmaceutical enterprises manufacturing generic drugs, including Tiva, Sandoz, Fecenyuskabi, etc.

According to the report of Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, the open letter wrote that some European pharmaceutical factories' electricity charges increased tenfold, and the cost of raw materials increased by 50% to 160%.

Elizabeth Stampa, president of Modicon, a pharmaceutical company headquartered near Barcelona, Spain, said: "Due to the direct or indirect impact of rising energy costs, we may stop producing three or five products."

Stampa did not list the affected drugs, but said that if it decided to stop producing a product, it would inform the customer 6 to 12 months in advance so that the latter could find a new supplier.

Adrian van den Hoffen, director of the European Pharmaceutical Industry Federation, said that injections, antibiotics and hormone drugs commonly used in hospitals are the most energy consuming drugs in the production process. "Under the fixed drug price system in Europe, the profit margins of many commonly used drug manufacturers are almost swallowed up by the rising energy costs."

Van den Hoffen believes that, as a result, the generic drug market is more prone to supply disruption or shortage. Non patent drug industry associations in European Union countries are also making presentations to their health departments, calling for easing restrictions on drug pricing.

In Europe, generic drugs are usually supplied by low-cost pharmaceutical manufacturers, and the prices are set by the national health department or insurance industry association and often lowered to maintain a lower level. The European Pharmaceutical Industry Federation said that about 70% of the drugs dispensed in Europe were generic drugs, many of which were used to treat serious diseases such as cancer, but only accounted for 29% of the total drug costs in Europe, according to the observation report of Huacheng Import and Export Data.

Marcello Catani, president of the Italian Pharmaceutical Industry Association, said that the energy cost was seven times higher than last year, while the exchange rate of the US dollar, which is usually used to pay for imported pharmaceutical raw materials, rose against the euro, further increasing European pharmaceutical costs. However, "the pharmaceutical industry cannot pass on costs (to consumers)... The risk of negative impacts on drug production and accessibility is very high".

In addition, the supply chain problems caused by the Xinguan epidemic prompted Europe to focus on improving the production capacity of the local pharmaceutical industry to mitigate the impact of market fluctuations in imported drugs and raw materials, while the soaring energy costs hindered this effort, according to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation.