Reliable access to essential medicines and medical countermeasures is a fundamental pillar of resilient health systems. Yet, across OECD and European Union countries, shortages of critical medical products have become more frequent and more protracted over the past decade, driven by a combination of structural supply chain vulnerabilities, increasing global interdependencies, concentrated manufacturing of key inputs, and demand fluctuations that can rapidly strain production and distribution systems.
Previous OECD work has highlighted the growing complexity of medical supply chains and the need for better visibility of their structure and functioning. Policymakers often lack timely and comprehensive information on where critical inputs are produced, how manufacturing and distribution networks are organised across borders, and where bottlenecks are most likely to emerge. Without this knowledge, it is difficult to anticipate disruptions, assess risks, or design effective strategies to strengthen supply security.
This report aims to strengthen the evidence base for improving the security of supply of medical products, with a particular focus on medical countermeasures (MCMs), through enhanced international co‑operation. It aims to support ongoing European initiatives related to medical supply chains and preparedness, as well as broader efforts to reinforce preparedness and resilience in the face of public health emergencies.
The report is structured as three complementary strands of analysis. It first maps the supply chains of selected medical products relevant to public health emergencies, combining and assessing diverse data sources to shed light on manufacturing locations, market structures and recent shortage patterns, and in doing so identifying key vulnerabilities and potential points of failure. Building on this evidence, it then assesses the feasibility and likely impacts of a range of policy tools grounded in international co‑operation that could strengthen security of supply in the European Union, including measures to expand manufacturing capacity and diversify sources of supply, promote regulatory alignment and trade facilitation, and improve the management of demand peaks. Finally, the report explores how innovative technologies and data frameworks could enhance supply chain monitoring and demand forecasting, reviewing both existing traceability systems and emerging digital solutions that could enable earlier risk detection, better co‑ordination among actors, and more proactive management of disruptions.