Need for procurement reform to ensure patient access to medicines, EC repot finds

The European Commission has published  a study examining the public procurement practices and their impact on medicines supply and availability. The study confirms that awarding multiple winners and using additional criteria other than price (most economically advantageous tender – MEAT criteria) would be more sustainable procurement.

The study shows that procurers are focused primarily on cost-minimization, through price-only, single-winner tenders. This encourages bidders to offer the lowest-price possible and provides no reward for security of supply measures or environmentally sound manufacturing. This leads to overreliance on a single manufacturer to supply the market and increases the risk of serious shortages.

This risk is compounded by mounting inflation across Europe and the increase in global production costs leading to consolidation at all levels of the pharmaceutical supply chain, said trade group Medicines for Europe commenting on the findings.