Nine pharma chairs tell Andy Burnham Europe trails US, China
The chairs of nine of Europe's biggest pharmaceutical companies just sent a wake-up call to Andy Burnham and the national leaders of other European countries, saying the region is slipping behind the US and China in drug innovation.
They pointed out that over $600bn in pharmaceutical investment has been announced in the US and China in the last two years alone, while Europe's share of global pharmaceutical research and development has fallen from 43% in 1990 to 31%.
The message: treat medicine as strategic infrastructure, just like energy or defense.
Europe commercial trials halved to 9%
The letter also flagged that Europe's share of commercial clinical trials has halved to 9% from 18% a decade ago, and only a tiny fraction focuses on cutting-edge treatments like cell and gene therapies.
Meanwhile, patients here are waiting nearly 600 days on average for new medicines, much longer than elsewhere.
The companies say fixing these gaps could mean more jobs, more investment, and faster access to life-changing treatments across Europe.