Europe seeks to boost research

doi:10.1136/bmj.39475.547199.AD

BMJ 2008;336:474-475 (1 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.39475.547199.AD

Feature

Drug Research

Europe seeks to boost research

Geoff Watts, freelance journalist

¹ London

geoff@scileg.freeserve.co.uk

Europe is losing out in the battle for research into potentialnew treatments. Geoff Watts examines a new initiative to attractmore investment

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

As even the keenest supporters of the European Union might concede,there is not too often reason to use the words "excitement"and "European Commission" in the same sentence. Yet almost allof the people I talked to when researching this article on oneof the commission’s latest plans used the word "exciting"when discussing its core proposals.

The project generating this unexpected enthusiasm is the InnovativeMedicines Initiative, which was given the final go ahead lastDecember. For a succinct summary of what prompted the initiative,look no further than the 2007 edition of The PharmaceuticalIndustry in Figures.¹ Speaking of drug industry investment inEurope it says: "Between 1990 and 2006, R&D [research anddevelopment] investment in the United States grew 5 times whilein Europe it only grew 2.9 times . . . The current tendencyto close R&D sites in Europe and to open new . . . [Full text of this article]