European health R&D investments stagnate for the first time in history

A report published yesterday shows that European research and development investments in health have stagnated since 2010 after decades of annual increases.

The report, commissioned by Janssen Pharmaceutica, a subsidiary of US health care giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), and conducted by Deloitte Health Economics group, found that the total amount of health R&D in the European Union was 47 billion euros ($63.8 billion) in 2011, of which 60% was invested by the pharmaceutical industry and 40% by the member states and the European Commission. This amount represents 3% of total health care expenditure in the region, which amounts to 1.4 trillion euros. Within Europe, the major investors in health R&D are Germany with a total of 9.4 billion euros, followed by France (8.3 billion euros), the UK (7.4 billion euros), Switzerland (5.3 billion euros) and Italy (2.4 billion euros).

The private investments have stagnated for the first time, staying at 29 billion euros and public investment decreased 1% to 18 billion euros. Public investments include academic research and public research funds. In the USA, the health R&D investments have decreased even more strongly, but they remain at a very high level with 49 billion euros of private investments and 42 billion euros by the public authorities.