Europe’s pharma lead feels shaky
Analysts argue Europe’s long-standing pharmaceutical dominance is under pressure from U.S. policy shifts and China’s biotech rise, pointing to fragmented capital markets and uneven reimbursement systems as weaknesses. The report suggests those structural issues are reshaping where biotech investment and product development concentrate. (cnbc.com)
Europe’s grip on drug research is slipping as investment, pricing power and new-product pipelines tilt toward the United States and China. (cnbc.com) ING told CNBC that Europe accounted for nearly half of global pharmaceutical research and development in 1990, versus about one-third for the United States. By 2025, the United States had risen to 55% and Europe had fallen to 26%, according to the same research. (cnbc.com) The pressure intensified after President Donald Trump revived “most favored nation” drug pricing in May 2025 and then moved on April 2, 2026 to impose new pharmaceutical tariffs. CNBC reported that patented drugs and their active ingredients face tariffs of up to 100% for some companies, while the European Union rate is 15% under broader trade deals. (biopharmadive.com) (cnbc.com) “Most favored nation” pricing means the United States would try to peg some medicine prices to the lowest price paid in comparable countries, many of them in Europe. ING analyst Diederik Stadig told CNBC that the threat has given drugmakers leverage in talks with European governments and regulators. (biopharmadive.com) (cnbc.com) Europe’s problem is not only U.S. policy. CNBC said companies have long complained about fragmented capital markets, uneven reimbursement systems and inconsistent adoption of single-market rules on pricing and clinical trials. (cnbc.com) Those bottlenecks show up after a drug wins approval. IQVIA’s 2025 Patients Waiting to Access Innovative Therapies indicator tracks 173 medicines authorized between 2020 and 2023 and measures whether they reached public reimbursement lists across more than 30 European countries as of January 5, 2025. (iqvia.com) Industry groups say the region still has scale, but the center of gravity is moving. The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations said Europe invested €55 billion in pharmaceutical research and development in 2024, employed about 950,000 people, and generated an estimated €705 billion in exports. (efpia.eu) The same federation also said China overtook both the United States and Europe in 2024 as the originator of new active substances launched for the first time on the world market. PwC wrote in May 2025 that one-third of in-licensed molecules at U.S. pharmaceutical multinationals now come from China, up from virtually zero in 2019. (efpia.eu) (pwc.com) Brussels has been warned for months that the erosion is structural. Mario Draghi’s competitiveness report, published by the European Commission on September 9, 2024, called for changes to help Europe adapt to slower productivity growth, higher costs and stronger global competition, and the industry federation said the report recognized an “uncertain future” for the sector against the United States and China. (commission.europa.eu) (efpia.eu) Europe still has large drugmakers, deep universities and a big export base. The question now is whether those strengths can hold investment in place while Washington rewrites trade rules and China supplies more of the science. (efpia.eu) (cnbc.com)
