EU cost-driven health care scene limits Pharma's contribution, says EFPIA chief

"As Europe keeps losing its attractiveness as a prime center for pharmaceutical R&D," the overall priority for the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations "is to continue to fight for a strengthened European science base and improved competitiveness," stressed the EFPIA's president, Franz Humer (who is also chief executive of Swiss drugs giant Roche), at the Association's annual meeting, held in Prague, the Czech Republic.

The meeting brought together senior pharmaceutical industry executives, as well as representatives of European and national policy-makers, patient organizations, health care professionals and international journalists, who reviewed and debated progress on priority issues for the sector in Europe.

The EFPIA noted that European Union policy makers are well aware that medicines research creates health and wealth in the region. However, despite a shared vision to reinvigorate Europe's competitiveness in the pharmaceutical sector, and a commitment to act in the best interests of patients, EU member states fail to back up their political statements with concrete actions, it said.