Today, Europe produces 30% of the active ingredients for its pharmaceutical production.
65% confidence
HealthEuropean Union
Omissions
No primary official source (Eurostat, EMA, European Commission) was found in the 2025–2026 search window that explicitly states the 30% figure. The available evidence from 2024 data supports the claim, but newer official statistics confirming the exact percentage for 2025–2026 could not be located.
The 30% figure can vary significantly depending on whether measured by volume, value, or number of APIs. Different methodologies yield different results.
The speaker did not cite a specific source for the 30% figure, making independent verification dependent on secondary literature.
Sources
AcademicScienceDirect / ElsevierThe article, published in 2025, addresses 'The European Union's dependence on imports of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) from third countries' as a critical challenge, confirming the broader dependency narrative.
SecondaryEU Institute for Security Studies (ISS)The article discusses the EU's dependency on Asian supply chains for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), noting that for certain essential antibiotics the dependence on Asian supply chains is nearly total. It cites risk levels of 33%, 20%, and 13% for API production stage risks for three specific medicines.