Nine major European pharmaceutical companies have issued a joint appeal to government leaders across the continent, warning that Europe faces declining competitiveness in the global pharmaceutical sector. The letter, signed by executives from companies including AstraZeneca, GSK, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, Roche, and Novartis, characterizes the situation as urgent and calls for coordinated governmental action to reverse current trends.
The pharmaceutical industry executives highlighted substantial investment disparities, noting that the US and China have announced over $600 billion in pharmaceutical investment in recent years. They pointed to statistical evidence of Europe’s declining market share, including data showing that Europe’s proportion of global pharmaceutical research and development has contracted from 43% in 1990 to 31%. Additionally, Europe’s share of commercial clinical trials—a critical phase in drug development—has dropped to 9% from 18% a decade prior. In contrast, China has significantly expanded its position, increasing its share of global clinical trials from less than 10% to approximately 30% over the same timeframe.
The letter emphasized accessibility challenges for European patients, noting that nearly half of newly approved therapies failed to reach European markets last year. Approval timelines also present obstacles, with newly available drugs taking approximately 600 days on average to become accessible, though this varies considerably across member states. The industry leaders estimated that closing gaps in clinical trial capacity alone could generate €53 billion in economic value and create 82,000 jobs throughout Europe.
The appeal framed pharmaceutical development as analogous to defense and energy infrastructure, arguing that governments should prioritize medicines as essential services. The companies attributed access delays and unavailability to multiple factors, including regulatory processes and insufficient budgetary allocations in certain European nations. The joint statement represents an effort by the industry to shape policy discussions among European national governments regarding pharmaceutical competitiveness and investment conditions.
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