Belgium's govt R&D summit convened

Belgium's Prime Minster, Herman Van Rompuy, has convened a meeting of the Biopharmaceutical R7D Platform, due to what the country's  research-based pharmaceutical association, pharma.be, described as "a  context of serious economic crisis." Invitees to the summit included:  the Vice Prime Ministers; federal government ministers from concerned  departments of state; the Federal Medicines and Health Care Products  Agency (AFMPS); the National Institute for Health and Disability  Insurance (INAMI); and pharmaceutical representatives from pharma.be and  the Health Science & Technology Group.

The latter includes the major R&D investors in Belgium, notably US  health care giant Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceutica unit, US  drug behemoth Pfizer, UK-headquartered drug major GlaxoSmithKline  (which has a large vaccines research center at Rixensart) and  locally-based UCB.