Medicines supply chain and global shortages
The Telegraph
Dr. James Davies, Director of Research and Insights at Community Pharmacy England, was interviewed by The Telegraph about the UK’s medicines supply chain, including the country’s reliance on overseas manufacturing and the impact of global disruption on medicines availability.
Our Director of Research and Insights, Dr. James Davies said:
“We rely now more than ever on other countries to make sure we can get access to the medicines that the vast majority of people take. 2026 has been a challenging year for medicines supply, with ongoing disruptions. We’ve seen more global turbulence in general. It’s not unique to the UK, but it’s affecting countries across Europe, across the Western world, with the Iran war, with difficulties flying things over Ukraine and Russia, and challenges with shipping in the Red Sea. Some antibiotics are almost exclusively made in China. For some of the blood pressure medicines, they’re more likely to be made in India. But across the board, those two are where most of the raw ingredients for those active pharmaceutical ingredients come from.
These issues highlight the need for a more resilient medicines supply chain. We are continuing discussions with DHSC on medicines supply challenges and have called for a comprehensive review of the medicines supply market to help reform the current system.”
