Yvan Verougstraete· Renew

Nuanced

Nearly 80% of active pharmaceutical ingredients are produced outside the EU, mainly in China and India

Omissions

• The 80% figure represents an upper estimate ('up to 80%') rather than a precise current statistic, with other sources citing a range of 60-80%
• The claim does not specify that this dependency figure includes both APIs and other chemical substances required for pharmaceutical production
• The sources are from 2023-2025, and the exact figure may fluctuate based on different methodologies and time periods
• The European Parliament study cited was published in 2023, and the MEP speaking in January 2026 could have had access to more recent data

Sources

• PrimaryEuropean Parliament Study - Potential measures to facilitate the production of active pharmaceutical ingredientsStudy on EU dependency on imported APIs and reshoring strategies, confirming high dependency on third-country imports particularly from Asia
• AcademicPharmacia Journal (Pensoft Publishers)According to the authors, up to 80% of the chemical substances required for pharmaceutical production in the EU are sourced or synthesized outside its territory
• SecondaryMERICS (Mercator Institute for China Studies)Already, India and China produce 60 to 80 percent of the APIs in medicines sold in Europe, according to the Critical Medicines Alliance