Europe is losing its R&D edge
Europe is losing its competitive edge in pharmaceutical research and development, health minister Jane Kennedy said last week.
She was speaking after a meeting at which representatives from the European
Commission, governments, industry and patient groups discussed how access
to innovative and affordable medicines can be enhanced by improving the
environment for innovation. “We are facing an enormous challenge
if we are to maintain our position as an excellent place for the pharmaceutical
industry to do business,” she said. “We know that we have
a job to do. We are all agreed on the diagnosis. We know the symptoms.
Now we need to apply the treatment.”
To recover the ground lost a mind-shift is now needed in Europe, Tom
McKillop, chief executive of AstraZeneca, said. “We need to focus
on the value that innovation brings, as well as the amount of money it
costs,” he explained. It would be a tragedy if Europe loses both
the health and the economic benefits of pharmaceutical R&D because
of concerns about its cost, he said. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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