Multiple sclerosis support - Europe 'lagging further behind US on drugs'

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Europe 'lagging further behind US on drugs'

Cowboy

2005-04-28, 8:53 am

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/6134a8c2-b...000e2511c8.html

Europe 'lagging further behind US on drugs'
By Andrew Jack in London
Published: April 27 2005 22:00 | Last updated: April 27 2005 22:00

Europe is slipping ever further behind the US in innovation in the drug
industry and needs to revamp its research and healthcare systems to reverse
the trend, according to a report to be released by the European Commission
next month.

The US is increasingly dominating new medicine development at Europe's
expense, when measured by labour productivity, influential patent filings,
research collaboration and new drug launches, it says.

Recent EU efforts to reduce the gap in "high value-added" pharmaceutical and
biotechnology work have been ineffective, Fabio Pammolli, author of the
study and professor of economics and management at the university of
Florence, told the FT.

His research, requested by the previous Commission last year, comes at a
time when José Manuel Barroso, EU president, is struggling to maintain
momentum with the "Lisbon agenda" to boost competitiveness.

Prof Pammolli recommends Europe introduce systems of co-payment and other
private mechanisms to help supplement over-burdened state health systems in
paying for medical expenses, in order to raise prices paid to drug
developers towards levels almost twice as high in the US.

But he also stresses that in the US the prices for older, generic drugs that
have come off patent are much lower than in Europe. This helps stimulate
innovation by concentrating resources on newer drugs.

Prof Pammolli also calls for greater collaboration and competition between
European research institutes. He proposes a shift from work carried out in
isolation by companies, to US-style market-driven "virtuous networks"
between companies, hospitals and universities.

"The [French] Pasteur Institute co-operates more with the [US] National
Institutes of Health than with the [German] Max Planck Institute," he said.
At the same time he argues that there should be more EU-wide competitive
research funding, rather than member states largely funding their own
national facilities.

But he suggested warned that the US may in future lose its lead in
innovation to countries such as India and China.

Prof Pammolli previously submitted studies to the Commission at the start of
the decade, examining innovation in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology
sectors.

His thinking helped inspire the G10 Medicines report produced by the
Commission designed to improve the competitiveness of the industry in
Europe. But he said these recommendations did not tackle the most important
and sensitive issues such as reform of pricing and healthcare payments.

Based on data in the period 1996-2002, his new findings include: 70 per cent
of world drug research and development collaboration originated in the US
against 25 per cent in Europe; 70 per cent of "new chemical entities", the
basis of innovative medicines, were launched first in the US - normally one
to two years ahead of in Europe; More than half of total global patents were
registered in the US, and their influence was disproportionate, representing
70 per cent of academic citations.

--
For this and many more articles, see Paul Jones' website at
http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/

Roarke

2005-04-28, 5:51 pm

Hmmmmmmmmmm, probably true in some ways, but with the loss of effective
antibiotic approaches through lack of innovation, the ongoing sales to South
America of thalidomide, the Cox2 Vioxx debacle etc etc etc, I wonder why
this sounds like an advert ????? Share prices falling anybody ?

Roarke

"Cowboy" <msbuckaroo@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4270d0b7@nntp.zianet.com...
> http://news.ft.com/cms/s/6134a8c2-b...000e2511c8.html
>
> Europe 'lagging further behind US on drugs'
> By Andrew Jack in London
> Published: April 27 2005 22:00 | Last updated: April 27 2005 22:00
>
> Europe is slipping ever further behind the US in innovation in the drug
> industry and needs to revamp its research and healthcare systems to
reverse
> the trend, according to a report to be released by the European Commission
> next month.
>
> The US is increasingly dominating new medicine development at Europe's
> expense, when measured by labour productivity, influential patent filings,
> research collaboration and new drug launches, it says.
>
> Recent EU efforts to reduce the gap in "high value-added" pharmaceutical
and
> biotechnology work have been ineffective, Fabio Pammolli, author of the
> study and professor of economics and management at the university of
> Florence, told the FT.
>
> His research, requested by the previous Commission last year, comes at a
> time when José Manuel Barroso, EU president, is struggling to maintain
> momentum with the "Lisbon agenda" to boost competitiveness.
>
> Prof Pammolli recommends Europe introduce systems of co-payment and other
> private mechanisms to help supplement over-burdened state health systems
in
> paying for medical expenses, in order to raise prices paid to drug
> developers towards levels almost twice as high in the US.
>
> But he also stresses that in the US the prices for older, generic drugs
that
> have come off patent are much lower than in Europe. This helps stimulate
> innovation by concentrating resources on newer drugs.
>
> Prof Pammolli also calls for greater collaboration and competition between
> European research institutes. He proposes a shift from work carried out in
> isolation by companies, to US-style market-driven "virtuous networks"
> between companies, hospitals and universities.
>
> "The [French] Pasteur Institute co-operates more with the [US] National
> Institutes of Health than with the [German] Max Planck Institute," he
said.
> At the same time he argues that there should be more EU-wide competitive
> research funding, rather than member states largely funding their own
> national facilities.
>
> But he suggested warned that the US may in future lose its lead in
> innovation to countries such as India and China.
>
> Prof Pammolli previously submitted studies to the Commission at the start
of
> the decade, examining innovation in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology
> sectors.
>
> His thinking helped inspire the G10 Medicines report produced by the
> Commission designed to improve the competitiveness of the industry in
> Europe. But he said these recommendations did not tackle the most
important
> and sensitive issues such as reform of pricing and healthcare payments.
>
> Based on data in the period 1996-2002, his new findings include: 70 per
cent
> of world drug research and development collaboration originated in the US
> against 25 per cent in Europe; 70 per cent of "new chemical entities", the
> basis of innovative medicines, were launched first in the US - normally
one
> to two years ahead of in Europe; More than half of total global patents
were
> registered in the US, and their influence was disproportionate,
representing
> 70 per cent of academic citations.
>
> --
> For this and many more articles, see Paul Jones' website at
> http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/
>
>

Rob Duncan

2005-04-28, 5:51 pm

"Roarke" <roarke.unionatomik@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:Df9ce.9654$Y46.5338@newsfe1-win.ntli.net...
> Hmmmmmmmmmm, probably true in some ways, but with the loss of effective
> antibiotic approaches through lack of innovation, the ongoing sales to
> South
> America of thalidomide, the Cox2 Vioxx debacle etc etc etc, I wonder why
> this sounds like an advert ????? Share prices falling anybody ?
>
> Roarke

I wish the hysteria over thalidomide would come to an end in the US. Its a
highly effective drug for MS and is harmless to all but the idiots who take
it while pregnant, against their doctors orders. Its literal hell on a
developing fetus.

Rob

>
> "Cowboy" <msbuckaroo@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:4270d0b7@nntp.zianet.com...
> reverse
> and
> in
> that
> said.
> of
> important
> cent
> one
> were
> representing
>
>