Europe to mimic US research ‘clusters’
pharmafile | October 21, 2003 | News story | |Â Â Â
New networks of excellence in pharmaceutical research must be established if Europe is to catch up with world leading US R&D communities, according to the European Commission.
Dr Bruno Hansen, Director for Life Sciences of the EC's Research Directorate-General, said it was determined to increase funding for such partnerships. Member states have just agreed a target of raising total EU spending to 3% of GDP by 2010 from its current 1.9% and create a single 'European Research Area'.
There has been broad political, scientific and industry support for the strategy. The EC's sixth framework programme 2002-2006 (FP6) has now given the go-ahead after over two years of negotiations. FP6 will promote scientific excellence, co-ordinate EU research activities and support the development of research and innovation policies.
"While we have very defined targets for what we want from future research, we have also defined new ways of collaborating and networking to increase life science innovation in Europe", Dr Hansen told delegates at the FT Global Pharmaceutical Conference in London."The creation of etworks of excellenceaims to structure the EU research potential by integrating existing research capacities."
Such networks would be especially important for genomics and biotechnology, which represents one of FP6's key priorities, said Dr Hansen. These areas have been allocated a budget of E2.3 billion out of the total FP6 budget of E17.5 billion for 2003-6.
Dr Hansen said that despite the larger number of biotech companies in Europe than the US, there was a need for a networking of 'bioclusters' across Europe to help achieve critical mass and share best practice.
This sentiment echoed earlier comments by Dr Bernhard Scheuble, Chief Executive of Merck KGaA, who said that while funding on research by Europe was comparable with US, the presence of the high-density research 'clusters' in the US gave it a significant edge and led to much greater efficiencies.
He warned that the current European pharmaceutical market model was no longer viable for an innovative pharmaceutical R&D industry.
This was leading to European companies increasingly focusing their research investments in the US. "What has to be done, in view of the persistent trend towards globalisation, is to encourage the European pharma industry to start investing more in Europe again rather than the US", said Dr Scheuble.
He added that innovation "must start paying-off again", saying the proposed uniform data protection periods put forward as part of reforms to European pharmaceutical legislation were a step in the right direction.
The development of research networks was one of the recommendations of the G10 report on innovation and the provision of medicines within Europe, published in May.
