But the warning signs are clear: while Europe still accounts for 20 percent of global pharmaceutical research and development, its share of global investment is shrinking as capital and talent migrate elsewhere.4 Europe’s world-class science is being held back by fragmentation and regulatory inertia.
We must treat this sector as a pillar of our sovereignty and a strategic asset, not merely a cost to be managed.
If we want to lead the next wave of medical breakthroughs, we must move at the speed of global change. This requires a fundamental shift: simplifying clinical trial regulations, deploying AI-driven digital tools, incentivizing research through strong intellectual property frameworks and establishing a public-private dialogue on innovative pharmaceuticals.
We need a clear action plan, not just more legislation, to translate our scientific leadership into tangible health outcomes. We must treat this sector as a pillar of our sovereignty and a strategic asset, not merely a cost to be managed.
A consequential choice
Europe has to choose. Either we can continue to approach life science innovation as a budgetary threat, only to realize too late that we have weakened our competitiveness and delayed new treatments for patients. Or we can recognize innovation for what it is — an economic multiplier that strengthens our productivity, resilience and global influence — and ensure that Europe remains a place where the next generation of medical breakthroughs is discovered, developed and delivered to patients.
There is no middle ground. Europe must stop focusing solely on the cost of innovation and start asking how much innovation it can afford to lose. In the global race for talent and capital, hesitation is a decision. The rest of the world is not waiting.