LONDON—Surging energy costs in Europe risk accelerating an exodus of companies critical in the manufacture of essential medicines, further endangering drug supply chains hit by shortages at the height of COVID-19, drug ingredient makers say.
Essential medicines are crucial in treating long-term conditions as well as for surgical procedures. They are also typically off-patent, and sold at the lowest possible prices set by national health agencies or insurers’ associations in European Union member states allowing only the most cost-efficient suppliers to survive.
The pricing pressure for these generic medicines has long pushed manufacturing of the most energy-intensive component – active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)—from Europe eastwards to India and China, where costs are much lower….