At a time when Europe is seeking to revitalize its economy, The pharmaceutical industry is highlighted in an important help of the whole effort. This is because, in addition to its irreplaceable contribution to the prosperity of Epirus and its citizens, it contributes catalytic to both economic growth and employment.

Research -based pharmaceutical industry can therefore to play a critical role in reset Europe to growth trajectory And in ensuring its future competitiveness in a growing global economy.

In 2024, the pharmaceutical industry invested about 55 billion euros In research and development (R&D) in Europe. Is directly employed by approximately 950,000 people And it creates about three times more jobs indirectly than directly, according to the report prepared by PWC on the economic and social footprint of the pharmaceutical industry in Europe in November 2024.

According to Eurostat data, the pharmaceutical industry is the high -tech sector with the highest added value per employed, significantly higher than the average value of high -tech and processing industries.

The pharmaceutical industry is also the sector with the highest investment ratio in research and development for net sales. According to the results of an EU R&D investment for 2024, Health industries invested about 258.1 billion euros In R&D in 2023, an amount corresponding to 20.5% of total R&D business costs worldwide.

However, The sector faces significant challenges. In addition to the additional regulatory obstacles and the escalating costs of research and development, the sector continues to be affected by the impact of fiscal austerity measures introduced by governments in much of Europe since 2010.

This in combination with the US stronger sovereignty in the market for many years led to a significant shift in economic and research activity to the US During the periods 1995-2005 and 2015-2020, a trend that has slowed down after the Covid pandemic, as EFPIA notes.

Now, however, Europe is also facing increasing competition from emerging economies: rapid market growth and research environments in countries such as China contribute to the movement of economic and research activities to non -European markets, which highlights the magnitude of the challenge that Epirus is called upon to face.

It is indicative that, according to EFPIA, 2024, China has surpassed both the US and Europe as creators of new active substances first released on the world market.

In 2024, out of the total of 81 new molecules developed, 28 came from Chinese companies (including Hong Kong), while 25 and 18 respectively came from US -based companies.

During the period 2019-2024, the markets of Brazil, China and India rose 14.3%, 2.2% and 9.5% respectively, compared to the average market increase of 7.9% presented by the top five European Union markets and the 9.8% increase recorded by the US market:

In 2024, in fact, North America represented 54.8% of estimated global sales of pharmaceuticals, compared to just 22.7% of Europe. Also according to IQVIA (Midas, May 2025), 66.9% of the sales of new drugs released during the period 2019-2023 were made on the US market, compared to 15.8% in the European market (in the top five markets).

And the fragmentation of the European pharmaceutical market has led to an profitable parallel trade. This benefits neither social security nor patients, while depriving the industry additional resources for research and development funding and leads to supply disorders in several smaller markets. Parallel trade is estimated to amounted to EUR 6,497 billion (value at factory prices) in 2023.