Nine pharma giants warn Europe faces 'slow agony' of decline as US and China race ahead

From the Newshound archive · first published 23 September 2026.

Nine pharmaceutical company chairs — from AstraZeneca, GSK, Novo Nordisk, and six others including Novartis, Roche, Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi and Ipsen — have jointly signed an open letter warning that Europe is falling behind the US and China in the race for pharmaceutical investment. Their demands include faster EU clinical trials, stronger intellectual property protections and greater fiscal flexibility for member states to fund health budgets. The letter describes the risk to Europe's pharmaceutical sector as a "slow agony" of decline, a phrase that echoes an earlier warning from Mario Draghi.

National governments hold the decisive levers, the chairs say, controlling health budgets, drug approval speeds and healthcare modernisation.

European governments must establish the conditions needed to draw investment in next-generation medicines 'before it's too late', the letter cautions.

'Europe does not value what you do,' was one blunt phrase used to capture the bloc's failure to reward pharmaceutical innovation.