Media: Germany is highly dependent on China in the pharmaceutical sector
According to foreign media reports, Germany has become seriously dependent on China for the supply of key medicines. If Chinese suppliers stop production, Germany would have 42 million boxes of medicine unavailable each year.
A new study commissioned by the German Association of Generic Medicines (Pro Generika) and conducted by the German Economic Institute found that 68% of the active pharmaceutical ingredients in the European market come from Asia, with China accounting for 24% and India for 37%. In the field of antibiotics, 47% of global production bases are located in China, 27% in India, and only 23% in Europe.
The results of this study's stress test showed that if China's supply were interrupted, 42 million boxes of medicine would be unavailable annually. Among 56 key active ingredients, 20 were rated as high-risk; only 10.2% of drug ingredients in Europe have sufficient local production capacity.
Additionally, according to the study, 81% of vitamins and 76% of antibiotic raw materials in Germany come from China. For key medicines such as metformin (a diabetes drug) or paracetamol (an analgesic), a supply disruption could lead to serious shortages.
Andreas Burkhardt, chairman of the German Generic Medicines Association, said in an interview: "We have fallen into a huge dependence on China, which makes us politically vulnerable."
Jasmin Kirchhoff, a co-author of the study and an expert at the Cologne-based German Economic Institute (IW), stated, "This dependence is not accidental. 'China has long gone beyond the generic medicine sector, and its innovation capabilities are rapidly rising, especially in biotechnology, a field extremely important for the pharmaceutical industry.'
David Francas, a staff member of the Institute for Medical Supply Chains, said, "The further up the supply chain you go, the higher the dependency becomes. The upstream production of certain raw materials is almost entirely dependent on China. A typical example is that 87% of medicines in the U.S. market are based on Chinese raw materials."
Take the diabetes drug metformin as an example. Out of the six manufacturers of its key precursor chemical, dicyandiamide, five are located in China.
The report pointed out that the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) has currently listed approximately 540 drugs on its shortage list.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1846565423102027/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.