The Chairs of eight European and globally headquartered bio/pharmaceutical companies (AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi Group, Ipsen, GSK, Novo, Novartis, Roche, and Sanofi) issued an Open Letter calling on European policymakers and other stakeholders to improve the business environment for the bio/pharmaceutical industry in Europe as they raise concerns of losing ground to other countries, including the United States and China.  

“In our boardrooms, we see Europe losing ground to global competition,” said the signatories of those eight European companies. “Over $600 billion in pharmaceutical investment has been announced in the US and China in the last two years alone. European governments must create conditions that attract investment in next-generation medicines before it’s too late.” 

The companies also raised concerns over patient access to new medicines and what they view as Europe losing ground in product innovation due to budgetary constraints. “For patients, the consequences are clear: around 40% of newly approved therapies never reach European patients. Among those that do, patients wait nearly 600 days for treatment. Cancer survival in Europe trails the US,” said the letter. “Too many patients are diagnosed late or treated with medicines that fall short of the standard recommended by medical guidelines. This is the result of decades in which Europe treated medicines as a cost to suppress rather than one of the best investments a government can make. Outdated systems constrain the use of innovative medicines, arbitrarily cap budgets, and fail to adjust spending for inflation despite rising patient need. Government policies send a powerful signal about how innovation is valued and the priority placed on ensuring that patients can access it.” 

These European companies are calling on national governments to work with them to resolve these harmful effects and increase the competitiveness of the European bio/pharmaceutical industry. “We ask national leaders to work with us to reverse Europe’s declining competitiveness, unleash a new era of medical discovery, and secure health sovereignty,” said the industry executives in their letter. “We recognize the fiscal pressures many face. But just like defense or energy, modern medicines should be treated as vital infrastructure and not be left to others to provide.” 

Source: Sanofi