In the heart of Brussels, pharmacist Didier Ronsyn stares at empty shelves, a sight now all too common. “There are often several dozen medications that are in short supply simultaneously, which makes our lives very difficult,” he told reporters in October 2025. His frustration echoes across the European Union, where chronic drug shortages have escalated into a full-blown crisis, dominating headlines from Paris to Warsaw. An audit by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) revealed that between 2022 and 2024, the EU’s 27 member states faced shortages of 136 essential drugs, including antibiotics like amoxicillin and critical treatments for heart conditions. As 2025 unfolds, the crisis persists, with reports flagging intermittent shortages for high-demand medications like GLP-1 receptor agonists. What’s fuelling this supply chain storm, and why is Europe struggling to keep up?
A snapshot from recent reports
Europe’s pharmaceutical shortages are not new, but they’ve reached unprecedented levels. A September 2025 Euronews analysis described “chronic” shortages hitting record highs over the past two years, impacting everything from antibiotics to specialized therapies. Belgium, Spain, and France led with critical shortages, with 19 countries in the European Economic Area facing amoxicillin deficits in early 2024. The ECA’s 2024 report underscored a key issue: fragmented national reporting systems obscure the full scope of the problem, leaving patients and pharmacists in the lurch.
Consider Ozempic (semaglutide), a widely used diabetes drug also popular for weight management. Despite efforts by manufacturer Novo Nordisk to boost production, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) warned in September 2024 that intermittent shortages would continue into late 2024 due to soaring demand. By mid-2025, while some progress was made across the EU/EEA, the ripple effects lingered, prompting healthcare providers to ration new prescriptions. Antibiotics face similar woes. Amoxicillin shortages, triggered by a 2022–2023 respiratory illness surge, are expected to persist until May 2025 due to manufacturing constraints.
The human toll is evident. The Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU) reported a 2024 surge in shortages, with community pharmacists handling 70% of inquiries about drug availability alone. Delayed treatments, wasted resources, and declining trust in healthcare systems are now common concerns.
When Production Falls Short
At the heart of Europe’s shortages is a manufacturing bottleneck years in the making. Factories running around the clock can’t keep up with demand spikes, worsened by post-pandemic recovery and geopolitical tensions. Novo Nordisk invested billions to expand Ozempic capacity in 2024, yet lower-dose pens remained scarce into late that year, driving searches for alternatives in markets like the Netherlands. Generics face similar hurdles: a February 2025 Pharmaceutical Technology report noted that 24% of EU-listed shortage drugs disrupt clinical trials, as companies like Teva cut back on low-margin essentials.
Energy costs, 20–40% higher in the EU than in Asia, force manufacturers to pause production of less profitable drugs like certain insulins. The ECA highlighted “local shortages,” where a drug is unavailable in one country but stocked in another, pointing to inefficient EU-wide distribution. For patients seeking alternatives, options like online sourcing have surged. Searches for “Ozempic Kopen” spiked in the Netherlands amid 2024-2025 disruptions, reflecting a pragmatic turn to cross-border solutions.
Rules that slow the flow
Europe’s stringent regulations, meant to ensure quality, often create bottlenecks. The ECA criticized the patchwork of national competent authorities (NCAs), where companies navigate 27 different shortage reporting templates, delaying alerts by weeks. Tendering processes, prioritising the lowest bids, have slashed generic drug prices (70% of dispensed drugs but only 29% of spending) forcing manufacturers to Asia or out of the market.
Green Deal environmental mandates add complexity: proposed bans on substances like per- and polyfluoroalkyls (PFAS) could disrupt active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production, clashing with efforts to bring manufacturing back to Europe. Static pricing caps on drugs like amoxicillin, unchanged for decades despite inflation, discourage investment in robust facilities. One industry executive noted, “Tendering is destroying price over time,” undermining EU-based production.
Asia’s grip on Europe’s supply
Europe relies on Asia for 70% of APIs and 79% of precursors, a dependency that’s proven fragile. COVID lockdowns and Ukraine war-related energy hikes exposed this vulnerability, with a 2025 ECA study warning that global disruptions amplify Europe’s shortages. Geopolitical trade barriers and raw material shortages have idled factories, while demand for drugs like Ozempic, boosted by off-label weight-loss use, outpaces expanded production. The EMA’s Medicine Shortages SPOC Working Party noted in June 2025 that GLP-1 supply vulnerabilities persist despite some improvements.
EU’s push for resilience in 2025
Despite the challenges, 2025 offers signs of progress. The EMA’s European Shortages Monitoring Platform (ESMP), fully operational since February, mandates real-time shortage reporting by manufacturers and NCAs, enabling quicker responses. Q1 trainings and webinars supported its rollout, with public dashboards now tracking shortages like Ozempic’s.
The European Commission’s Critical Medicines Act, proposed in March, aims to boost EU manufacturing through strategic projects and procurement reforms, prioritizing reliability over cost. The Critical Medicines Alliance, co-led by industry and regulators, issued February recommendations for buffer stocks and cross-country sharing to prevent future antibiotic shortages. Technological advances, like event-driven architectures for predictive analytics, promise to pre-empt shortages before they hit shelves.
From crisis to continuity
Europe’s drug shortage crisis reveals a stark reality: systems built for efficiency can falter under strain. As headlines shift from alarm to action, the challenge lies in execution. Will the ESMP deliver timely data, or will regulatory silos persist? For patients awaiting drugs like Ozempic, the stakes are deeply personal. Yet, with €45 billion in investments from companies like Novo Nordisk and EU-wide reforms gaining momentum, 2025 could mark a turning point from reactive fixes to proactive stability. Collaboration across borders and supply chains will be crucial to ensure no empty shelf tells a story of neglect.
Adam Mulligan, a psychology graduate from the University of Hertfordshire, has a keen interest in the fields of mental health, wellness, and lifestyle.
