“This means we are not ready for possible crises”, Krzysztof Kopeć, president of the National Medicine Producers association, told Polish Press Agency (PAP) at the European Forum of New Ideas in Sopot.
Critical medicines include antibiotics, insulin, vaccines and treatments for cancer, diabetes and other chronic diseases. Kopeć said Polish production is growing but too slowly.
Poland’s drugs market is worth about PLN 80 billion (EUR 18 billion), the EU’s fifth largest, he said. Domestic firms supply only 30% of the roughly PLN 30 billion (EUR 6.9 billion) in reimbursed medicines, though they make every second reimbursed pack sold in pharmacies.
Kopeć said dependence on Asia was the main risk. An estimated 80% of the world’s active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) come from China and India.
“Turmoil on global markets that halted imports of medicines or active substances from Asia would put us in an extremely difficult position very quickly”, he said. “It could even endanger lives and cause deaths, for example through a lack of insulin or antitoxins”.
European producers face an uneven playing field, he said. Chinese state support for domestic industry equals 4.4% of gross domestic product, giving its firms up to eight times more public aid than companies in OECD countries. Production costs in Europe would make a locally made drug about 40% pricier.
Kopeć said the EU’s Critical Medicines Act and Pharmaceutical Package were a first step, as they require buyers to weigh whether a product is made in the bloc, not just its price. Poland’s own measures are in a draft amendment to the reimbursement law, which has yet to reach the Council of Ministers.
He called for government and industry to work out which critical drugs Poland already makes and which it lacks. He said local strengths include gliflozins for type 2 diabetes and heart failure, and hospital anaesthetics, while Polpharma, Polfa Tarchomin, Adamed Pharma and Sandoz are expanding capacity.
The industry estimates a plant making 100 active substances would cost PLN 1.8 billion (EUR 412 million). Kopeć said the main obstacle would be selling the output, as costs would exceed those in China.
“By choosing a product from Europe, and preferably from Poland, even if it is 30% or 50% more expensive, we strengthen our market and allow it to develop”, he said. “We also keep in Europe the skills needed to make medicines, so we are buying a guarantee of supply”.
Poland’s health ministry published its first list of critical substances in December 2024, with 301 entries. It was expanded to 401 in July 2025.
(jh)
Source: PAP