Belgian innovative pharma sector urges government to prioritise competitiveness [Advocacy Lab Content]

The Belgian innovative pharmaceutical industry continues to grow, but competitiveness dynamics and EU pharma package revisions are causing uncertainty. Euractiv spoke in depth with Caroline Ven, CEO of pharma.be, about the sector’s concerns.

Despite significant growth in added value, employment, and investments, and with Belgian companies injecting €15 million daily into research and development – totalling €5.7 billion, a remarkable 58.4% increase over the past five years –  Ven sounds a cautionary note, citing the latest Pharma Figures.

The most recent study by EFPIA, the European pharmaceutical industry federation, signalled potential repercussions for European countries, notably Germany and Belgium, due to the impending legislative overhaul.

“For our country, with a large pharmaceutical industry presence, this would mean Belgium potentially losing €381 million in R&D investment, according to this study,” Ven told Euractiv.

“Such a decline,” she says, “not only impacts biopharmaceutical firms directly but ripples throughout the entire healthcare ecosystem.” Belgium’s success lies in its unique ecosystem and its continued efforts to innovate.

In addition, the reform will further reduce the number of clinical trials, which will impact both hospitals and Belgian patients, who will consequently have less access to innovative medicines in the research phase, explained Ven.

Decrease in investments

Α downturn in investments is anticipated as a consequence of the EU pharmaceutical legislation reform. Europe’s share of global R&D investment has already declined from 37% in 2010 to 32% in 2020, with projections indicating further decreases to 25% by 2030 and a mere 21% by 2040, while China’s contributions surge. “Research & development will continue, but the question is where?” asked Ven.

She said if the reform of the European pharmaceutical legislation hurts the competitiveness of the biopharmaceutical industry in Europe, it will have a magnified negative impact on Belgium, given the importance of the innovative pharmaceutical sector in the country.

“We have repeatedly urged the Belgian government to pay attention to the impact of the proposed changes to European legislation on the competitiveness of both Europe and Belgium”, she said.

According to Ven, the current federal government has rightly included the country’s competitive position in the project ‘Belgium health and biotech valley – today and tomorrow’, but pharma.be has asked for more special attention to the European reform proposals.

Ven emphasised key focus areas include fostering a conducive fiscal environment for innovation-driven enterprises, bolstering support for R&D, nurturing talent development, safeguarding intellectual property rights, preserving logistical capabilities, and ensuring expedited access to innovative treatments for patients within the country.

Persistent challenges

As the industry grapples with persistent challenges, including chronic shortages of medicines, Ven underscored the industry’s commitment to ensuring uninterrupted access to vital treatments for Belgian patients.

“Let there be no doubt, pharmaceutical companies obviously want their products to always be available when patients need them. However, fighting shortages of medicines requires more than just the goodwill of actors in the field.”

In Belgium, many initiatives are already being taken to provide pharmacists and patients with timely supplies in consultation with the Federal Agency for Medicines and Medical Products (FAMHP).

It was the first in Europe to set up a reporting system called ‘pharmastatus’ that ensures transparency regarding the causes and duration of unavailability, for the benefit of healthcare professionals and patients.

For their part, companies prudently stock medicines to supply pharmacists directly to guarantee availability to Belgian patients.

“However, the fact that things sometimes go wrong is related to the investment climate in Europe, which is difficult to reconcile with the strong downward pressure on medicine prices, the free movement of goods in Europe and, finally, the high-quality requirements on medicines with a very complex production process.”

Price pressures

Ven also brings up that local production in Europe is a major challenge for all industrial sectors. “Higher wage and energy costs make production at low prices uncompetitive and those activities shift to other parts of the world,” Ven said. “The biopharma sector does not escape these dynamics. Only high-value-added activities that require a great deal of specialised knowledge escape it for now.”

She notes that the lack of local production is not just an economic reality. There is also strong pressure to shift production facilities to these regions to ensure access to cheap medicines and vaccines in developing countries.

“Just think of the political pressure to facilitate local production of COVID-19 vaccines in Africa, for example.”

Moreover, due to the frequent price reductions of medicines in the off-patent segment imposed by the government, companies are sometimes no longer able to keep the treatment available, and it disappears permanently in Belgium, which can sometimes be disastrous for Belgian patients.

[By Nicole Verbeeck, edited by Vasiliki Angouridi, Brian Maguire| Euractiv’s Advocacy Lab]

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