By Natalie Grover
LONDON (Reuters) – Europe’s drug regulator has decided not to label the ongoing shortage of antibiotics in the continent a “major event”, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The declaration of a “major event”, would allow the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to coordinate action at a pan-European level and increase the reporting obligations of manufacturers.
Certain widely-used antibiotics, including amoxicillin – used to treat bacterial infections and often prescribed for ear and chest infections in children – have been in short supply since October.
There has been a spike in demand for antibiotics linked to the resurgence of respiratory infections after two years of COVID restrictions, which has put additional pressure on global supplies, and made obtaining imports from elsewhere unlikely.
Drugmakers had also cut output when demand dipped at the height of the pandemic.
Nearly all the countries in Europe are reporting shortages, according to the EMA.
A meeting of the EMA’s Executive Steering Group on Shortages and Safety of Medicinal Products (MSSG) took place earlier on Thursday, where the issue was discussed.
The EMA did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
On Wednesday, a consortium of patient and consumer groups wrote to the EMA saying not enough was being done to address the ongoing shortages, and that the use of alternative antibiotics was squeezing supplies of these other medicines.
The groups also recommended the EMA declare the situation a ‘major event,’ acknowledging that although the declaration would not immediately resolve the crisis, it would offer the regulator visibility into the extent of amoxicillin and other antibiotic shortages across the continent.
EU officials believe that deeming the current spate of shortages a major event would not really help tackle the issue, the source said.
In an interview with Reuters on Jan. 13, EMA chief medical officer Steffen Thirstrup said he was hopeful that demand for antibiotics will dampen as spring approaches.
The situation needs to become ‘even worse’ for that declaration, he said at the time. “We can manage the situation with the measures we have.”
So far, EU officials have asked drug suppliers to increase production capacity and have made recommendations, including the use of alternative drugs and encouraged member states to allow the use of medicines that may not be authorised domestically.
(Reporting by Natalie Grover in London; Editing by Toby Chopra)
