LONDON – The European Union is being urged to adopt urgent measures to reduce the bloc’s dependency on imports of pharmaceutical ingredients from China, thereby shoring up Europe’s medical supply resilience and avoiding future drug shortages.

In a confidential policy paper leaked to the media, 19 out of the EU’s current 27 member-states are asking the European Commission, the Union’s executive body, to adopt a so-called Critical Medicines Act that would encourage the production of crucial medicine on the continent, similar to the way the Commission is now pushing towards Europe’s self-reliance in microchips.