Jessica Polfjärd· PPE

Nuanced

Today approximately 80 percent of ingredients for pharmaceutical manufacturing are imported from a few countries.

Omissions

• The 80% figure represents the upper end of an estimated range (60-80%) cited by sources like the Critical Medicines Alliance
• The exact percentage varies by metric: EFPIA data shows 23% of API volume comes specifically from China, while other estimates include broader categories of chemical substances
• The data period for these estimates is typically 2022-2024, not specifically 2026
• The sources cited are academic/research publications, not primary official statistics from Eurostat or the European Commission

Sources

• AcademicPharmacia Journal - The European Union's dependence on imports of active pharmaceutical ingredientsUp to 80% of the chemical substances required for pharmaceutical production in the EU are sourced or synthesized from third countries
• SecondaryMERICS - Europe's increasing reliance on China for critical drugsIndia and China produce 60 to 80 percent of the APIs in medicines sold in Europe, according to the Critical Medicines Alliance
• SecondaryEFPIA - Production, Import Dependencies and Export Vulnerabilities of Pharmaceuticals for the EU27For Active Pharmaceutical Products (APIs), 23% in volume terms coming from China as the highest level of non-EU imports