
(Getty Images)
A stock photo shows blue capsules on a conveyor at a pharmaceutical factory.
If approved, a plan to reform the European Union's pharmaceutical rules will create opportunities to improve the bloc's supply chain resilience in the sector, but this could come at the price of higher costs and reduced competitiveness for the industry. In April, the European Commission proposed an overhaul of the bloc's pharmaceutical rules that has since created controversy in the industry. The reform aims to tackle structural and supply chain issues (such as varying access and costs for treatments and drugs between EU countries), while seeking to improve the bloc's capacity to tackle new and old challenges like antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and rare diseases.