With investments of 50 billion euros in R&D in Europe in 2023, the European pharmaceutical industry (including Greece) is the sector that invests the largest percentage of its revenue in R&D, according to the annual financial report published by EFPIA.
However, as mentioned in the relevant publication of the Federation, China nearly equalled Europe as originator of new active substances launched for the first time on the world market, with respectively 16 and 17 new substances, far behind the US leading with 24 on a total of 73. After having lost its crown as the top innovation region in the world in 2000, Europe moved to the third place on the podium in 2020, being overtaken by China and others.
In particular, according to Eurostat data, the pharmaceutical industry is the high-tech sector with the highest added value per employee, significantly higher than the average value for high-tech and manufacturing industries. The pharmaceutical industry is also the sector with the highest ratio of R&D investment to net sales. As recorded in the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard 2023, health industries as a whole invested around 261.4 billion euros in R&D in 2022, representing 20.9% of total business R&D spending worldwide.
But it is the research-based pharmaceutical industry that can play a critical role in bringing Europe back to growth and ensuring future competitiveness in a growing global economy. In 2023 it invested around 50 billion euros in R&D in Europe. While it directly employs about 900,000 people and creates about three times as many jobs indirectly.
However, the industry faces significant challenges. In addition to regulatory hurdles and escalating R&D costs, the industry is already being hit hard by the effects of fiscal austerity measures introduced by governments across much of Europe since 2010.
