Austrian Medical Association calls on EU to act following closure of last European painkiller factory.
Vienna (OTS) – In 2025, the last European plant producing the active ingredient metamizole (better known under the trade name Novalgin) will close. “If a large pharmaceutical company like Euroapi closes its site in Germany after more than 100 years and moves its metamizole production to China, then something is wrong. Then we will slide into total dependence on the Chinese market when it comes to this active ingredient, which is contained in many painkillers. But we must strive for exactly the opposite in Europe: autonomy in supplying the population with the most important medicines – this also includes painkillers,” says Harald Mayer, Vice President of the Austrian Medical Association (ÖÄK) and Federal Curia Chairman of the Employed Doctors’ Association.
“Europe must not become dependent on China when it comes to the supply of medicines. I call on the European Union to commit to independent and strong production of medicines in Europe and to finally develop a strategy against the overexploitation of its own medicine production,” stresses Johannes Steinhart, President of the Austrian Medical Association.
Only in January of this year, the ÖÄK, in a joint resolution with the German Federal Medical Association, called on the EU and the pharmaceutical industry to finally take decisive and joint action against drug supply shortages. Mayer: “It seems that politicians prefer to focus on other things rather than worrying about patients and their care. Since then, there has been more bad news than good news from European drug production and supply.”
“The pharmaceutical company Novartis, for example, shows that things can be done differently. At the beginning of this week it opened a new cell culture facility for monoclonal antibodies at its site in Tyrol and invested a total of 250 million euros in it,” stresses Mayer. Antibodies such as those produced in Schaftenau (Kufstein district) are of central importance, especially for drugs in immunology, oncology and against autoimmune diseases.
Inquiries & Contact:
Austrian Medical Association
Mag. Thorsten Medwedeff
public relation
+43 1 514 06-3314
t.medwedeff@aerztekammer.at
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