Public information on medicine shortages
Table of contents
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) publishes information on medicine shortages that affect or are likely to affect more than one European Union (EU) country, where it has assessed the shortage and provided recommendations to patients and healthcare professionals. In addition, EMA also publishes information on critical shortages that are monitored at EU level by the Medicine Shortages Single Point of Contact (SPOC) working party.
EMA monitors critical medicine shortages that might lead to a crisis situation, and is involved in mitigating them, by working with the EU Member States and European Commission. For more information, see:
- Crisis preparedness and management
- Executive Steering Group on Shortages and Safety of Medicinal Products (MSSG)
- Medicine Shortages Single Point of Contact (SPOC) Working Party
EMA's responsibilities in this area stem from Regulation on EMA’s Reinforced Role (Regulation (EU) 2022/123).
The Agency's shortages catalogue below contains information on supply shortages assessed by EMA.
The minutes of the Medicine Shortages Single Point of Contact (SPOC) Working Party meetings are also available:
National competent authorities typically handle shortages of nationally authorised products, particularly if they do not affect other countries. For information on specific shortages, you can check the national registers of shortages or visit the website of your national competent authority.
If you are having difficulty obtaining a medicine that has been prescribed to you, talk to your doctor or pharmacist.
You can find information on ongoing and resolved shortages of human medicines assessed by EMA under:
You can download this information in Excel table format at:
The table below contains the national registers of shortages for human and veterinary medicines.
Please note that the information in these national registers may not be available in English.
| EU Member State | National register |
|---|---|
|
|
|
|
 Bulgaria |
|
 Croatia |
|
 Cyprus |
|
 Czechia |
|
 Denmark |
|
 Estonia |
|
 Finland |
|
 France |
|
 Germany |
|
 Greece |
|
 Hungary |
|
 Ireland |
|
 Italy |
|
 Latvia |
|
 Lithuania |
|
 Luxembourg |
|
 Malta |
|
 Netherlands |
|
 Poland |
|
 Portugal |
|
 Romania |
|
 Slovakia |
|
 Slovenia |
|
 Spain |
|
 Sweden |
|
| EEA Member State | |
 Iceland |
|
 Liechtenstein |
|
 Norway |
|
Austria
Belgium