Medicines shortages prompt fresh focus on UK manufacturing

Persistent disruption to medicine supplies is prompting renewed attention on the resilience of the UK's domestic manufacturing base, after new government data showed manufacturing problems remained the leading reported cause of medicine supply issues.

Department of Health and Social Care figures covering 2025 found that manufacturing problems accounted for 62% of reported supply issue notifications, up from 59% in 2024.

The latest data, published in August 2026, recorded around 1,400 medicine supply issue notifications during 2025, compared with around 1,900 in 2024. During the first six months of 2026, around 700 further supply issue notifications were recorded.

However, the government stresses that these notifications should not be interpreted as a direct measure of the number of medicines actually in shortage or the impact on patients. They are reports submitted by suppliers when they anticipate or experience supply disruption.

The figures nevertheless provide a clear indication of where vulnerabilities in the supply chain are arising.

Within the manufacturing category, supply chain delays accounted for 19% of reported causes in 2025, other manufacturing-related problems for 17%, and shortages of raw materials or packaging materials for 13%.

The Department of Health and Social Care has previously warned that manufacturing problems affecting one supplier can create much wider disruption where several companies rely on the same manufacturer. This can leave multiple suppliers experiencing problems with the same medicine at the same time.

The issue has pushed domestic manufacturing further up the policy agenda.

The government's Life Sciences Sector Plan commits up to £520m through the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund, with the stated aim of strengthening UK manufacturing capability and health resilience.

The fund supports capital investment in the manufacture of human medicines, including active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished medicines, as well as diagnostics and medical technology.

The scale of investment has already begun to increase.

By March 2026, the government said the manufacturing fund had supported five projects and unlocked more than £560m in combined public and private investment. A July 2026 government update said that, in its first year, the fund had crowded in more than £700m of investment and created or safeguarded more than 1,300 jobs.

Projects supported through the programme include investment in pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in Birmingham and the expansion of medicines and gene therapy-related manufacturing in Liverpool and Wrexham.

The government has also previously supported investments aimed specifically at strengthening areas of the supply chain such as active pharmaceutical ingredient production and fill-finish capability, where medicines are prepared into their final form for use.

The renewed focus comes against a backdrop of continued reliance on overseas supply chains.

During parliamentary evidence in July 2026, industry representatives told MPs that the UK manufactures roughly one quarter of the medicines used domestically, while around one third comes from India and another third from the European Union.

The evidence also highlighted a particular vulnerability around active pharmaceutical ingredients. Around half of APIs were described as coming from China and half from India, illustrating how domestic production of finished medicines does not necessarily remove dependence on overseas supply chains.

Antibiotics were highlighted as a particularly significant example.

Evidence to Parliament in July said that the UK had almost no antibiotic manufacturing capacity remaining, with one of the last English manufacturing plants having closed in 2025. The evidence warned that reliance on overseas production could become particularly problematic during a major pandemic, international conflict or other global disruption.

The government has acknowledged that building domestic capacity is only one part of the response.

In March 2026, ministers said the department did not hold definitive data on the proportion of medicines and medical devices dependent on overseas supply chains because of the complexity of global manufacturing. They noted that many products rely on components sourced internationally and that active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished medicines are manufactured under licences across countries including India, Germany, China, Italy and the US.

This means a strategy based solely on bringing pharmaceutical production back to Britain would not eliminate supply risks.

The government's own medicines resilience strategy identifies a range of other vulnerabilities, including raw material availability, demand surges, transport and logistics, regulatory issues and concentration of supply among individual countries or manufacturers.

It has therefore also been developing earlier warning systems, improving information sharing across the supply chain, strengthening international partnerships and changing NHS procurement approaches to place greater weight on resilience.

One significant change is a move away from looking solely at price when medicines are procured.

DHSC said NHS England's value-based procurement approach gives greater consideration to factors such as supplier accountability and buffer stocks. Suppliers with well-managed reserves and stronger supply arrangements can therefore be better positioned in procurement decisions, alongside considerations of cost and clinical value.

The approach reflects a wider recognition that the cheapest supply is not necessarily the most resilient.

For medicines where margins are already extremely low, however, creating additional UK capacity can be commercially difficult. Parliamentary evidence in July highlighted the problem facing generic medicines, with many NHS generics costing only a very small amount per month. This can make it difficult for manufacturers to justify the cost of maintaining spare capacity or stockpiles without some form of government support.

There is also evidence that the UK retains significant manufacturing strengths.

Government competitiveness data shows pharmaceutical manufacturing contributed £20.4bn in UK gross value added in 2023, although this represented a 10% fall from 2022. Pharmaceutical manufacturing employment has remained relatively stable, with 48,100 people employed in the sector in 2022.

The challenge is therefore not simply rebuilding an industry from scratch, but deciding which parts of the medicines supply chain are strategically important enough to protect or expand domestically.

That distinction is becoming increasingly important as supply disruption remains a recurring operational issue for the NHS.

In May 2026, for example, the government confirmed intermittent supply problems affecting several brands of quetiapine modified-release tablets were being caused by manufacturing capacity constraints. Ministers said the department was working with manufacturers to increase UK supply and that several suppliers had subsequently completed deliveries.

The NHS is also continuing to manage shortages affecting medicines and medical products where production problems are temporary. NHS Supply Chain reported in August 2026 that a manufacturing pause affecting several Chloraprep products was expected to continue until October, with customers being advised to use clinically appropriate alternatives where available.

For healthcare organisations, the consequences of these disruptions extend beyond the pharmaceutical supply chain itself. Pharmacy and clinical teams can spend significant time locating alternative products, changing prescriptions, contacting suppliers and explaining changes to patients.

DHSC has acknowledged that shortages create additional work for healthcare professionals, as well as anxiety and frustration for patients who cannot obtain their usual treatment.

The policy direction is consequently moving towards a more deliberate balance between global trade and domestic resilience.

The government is continuing to support international pharmaceutical supply chains while simultaneously investing in UK manufacturing. Its Life Sciences Sector Plan explicitly links greater manufacturing capability with supply chain resilience and the ability to strengthen critical parts of the life sciences value chain within the UK.

The question now is how far that approach can go.

Domestic manufacturing cannot insulate the NHS from every global disruption, particularly when raw materials and active pharmaceutical ingredients remain internationally sourced. But the latest shortage data suggests that manufacturing itself is one of the most important points of vulnerability.

As the UK invests hundreds of millions of pounds in pharmaceutical manufacturing, the test will be whether that investment produces not only economic growth and high-skilled jobs, but also greater capacity to maintain supplies of medicines when international supply chains come under pressure.