Four and half years after the Stockholm summit, the biotech industry is calling on the Commission to keep its promise - as "we have kept ours by delivering on our promise to develop answers to all kinds of diseases," it said. Statistics show that biotech medicines account for 20% of all medicines on the market and 50% of all new drugs under development in clinical trials.
With the launch of its 'Healthcare Manifesto' on 22 September 2005, the industry expressed its concerns about the slow implementation of the EU strategy on biotechnology. "Europe is the only region in the world to have a real strategy on biotechnology and that strategy is worth its weight in gold if, and when, implemented," said Patricia Pellier from Serono. Industry is therefore calling on the member states to implement the existing regulation to bring Europe's strategy forward.
In its latest progress report on the European lifesciences and biotechnology strategy and action plan, the Commission had already identified the weaknesses in the implementation of the strategy and stated that:
- the lack of national implementation of internal market legislation (especially the directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions) is seriously hampering biotech industry's development;
- slow progress on the Community Patent has prompted companies to turn to the US for protecting patents;
- member states need to implement the new GMO legislation;
- access to finance for biotechnology companies must be improved as the market matures.
The 'Healthcare Manifesto' calls for EU policy support to ensure innovative healthcare (innovative medicines, orphan drugs such as those developed to treat rare diseases, advanced therapies), engagement with society and creation of wealth through a friendly environment for SMEs in the sector.
