LEEM sees opportunity in French EU presidency

The president of the French drug industry association, LEEM, Christian Lajoux, has outlined his hopes for the French presidency of the European Union in an interview with the physician's daily newspaper, Le Quotidien du Medecin. Drawing on President Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign to improve all aspects of Alzheimer's disease diagnosis and care in France, Mr Lajoux expressed his support for the coordination of research at a European level, including R&D partnerships between drugmakers, EU institutions and academic centers.

Mr Lajoux said: "only the drug manufacturers have, today, the sufficient scale and financial stability to ensure the development of the major innovative medicines. We are faced with a pathology for which, unfortunately, we do not dispose yet of the necessary therapeutic answers." The LEEM's president also noted that the national AD plan recently launched by Pres Sarkozy should be regarded as the precursor of a more powerful international effort to come (Marketletter July 14).