Study: Measures against delivery bottlenecks
24.05.2023 13:10
Antibiotic shortages clearly show that supply chains must become more stable. Stabilizing measures cost companies between 150,000 euros and 250 million euros more, and manufacturing costs increase by up to 23 percent. The ALBVVG (first reading in the Bundestag on Wednesday) does not create any incentives for investments of this magnitude.
Drug shortages never end - now even antibiotics are in short supply. Decades of cost pressure have destabilized supply chains, shifted active ingredient production towards Asia and meant that there are hardly any suppliers who still produce many important medicines.
Countermeasures are now needed. There are many ideas being discussed about this. The Medicines Supply Bottleneck Combating and Supply Improvement Act (ALBVVG), which will be discussed in the Bundestag on Wednesday, May 24th, also contains steps that are intended to improve the situation. But which measures help? How much do they cost and when can they work? The management consultancy MundiCare calculated this on behalf of Pro Generika.
One thing is certain: Stabilizing measures require investments (up to 250 million euros) and increase manufacturing costs (by up to 23 percent). And: None of the measures have an ad hoc effect – it takes between 1 and 5 years. In addition, Dr. Andreas Meiser, head of the study and partner at MundiCare: “Many steps have potentially positive effects on the resilience of supply chains - but their implementation is unrealistic and lengthy in the current framework conditions.”
According to Thomas Weigold, Managing Director of Sandoz Germany and Board Member at Pro Generika, the ALBVVG does not change this: “No company will be able to stabilize its supply chains and expand production capacities on the basis of the ALBVVG. While the Austrian government has long since reacted and saved the last penicillin production in the Western world, Germany has remained inactive. We lose precious time. Now the responsibility lies with the members of the Bundestag to ensure that the ALBVGG is improved and, above all, works.”
You can find a summary of the study including a fact sheet with the most important results here. You can download the long version of the study here download.