Key facts
- Nine major European drugmaker chairs warned the continent is losing ground to US and Chinese rivals.
- They called for increased government spending, faster clinical trials, and IP protections to attract investment.
- Europe's share of global R&D has fallen to 31% from 43% in 1990, and its share of commercial clinical trials has halved to 9% in a decade.
- Nearly half of new therapies approved globally do not reach European patients, with significant delays.
- The companies urged treating medicines as vital infrastructure, akin to defense or energy.
Major European pharmaceutical companies have issued a stark warning that the continent is losing its competitive edge to rivals in the US and China, risking a decline in drug development and investment. The chairs of nine leading companies, including AstraZeneca, GSK, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, and Ipsen, penned an open letter urging EU governments to treat medicines as strategic infrastructure and take immediate action to restore competitiveness.
They highlighted that Europe's share of global pharmaceutical research and development has significantly decreased, falling to 31% from 43% in 1990. Furthermore, the continent's participation in commercial clinical trials has halved to 9% over the past decade, with China now surpassing Europe in this area. A critical concern is that nearly half of newly approved therapies do not reach European patients, often facing delays averaging nearly 600 days, a situation attributed to slow regulatory processes and insufficient budgets.
The companies argue that closing the clinical trials gap alone could generate substantial economic benefits, including €53 billion in revenue and 82,000 jobs. They emphasize that, like defense and energy, modern medicines should be considered vital infrastructure, not left to others to provide. This call for action comes amid concerns that Europe's pharmaceutical sector, a significant post-war achievement supporting millions of jobs and generating a substantial trade surplus, is under threat from global competition.