A healthcare-focused consortium of five European countries is calling for a “unified approach” to strengthen Europe’s medicines framework and access to innovative medicines amid mounting drug price pressure from the US.
Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria and Ireland jointly make up the Beneluxa Initiative. This is a collaborative healthcare partnership that aims to make new and innovative medicines more affordable and “further balance the pharmaceutical market.” In a June 10 statement, the group stressed the need to address common health challenges through “a European framework, rather than uncoordinated individual national responses, while respecting national capacities.”
“We believe that in order to protect affordable and long-term pharmaceutical care for European patients in turbulent geopolitical times, the development of the current pharmaceutical system requires unity and coordination. At the same time, it needs to provide a strong and targeted approach to European innovation,” the Beneluxa Initiative wrote.
The group’s call comes as the U.S. government pressures other countries to follow the lead of Britain and the U.S.-British Pharmaceutical Partnership, according to Politico.
The newspaper reported on Tuesday that serious efforts are underway to encourage other European countries to strike drug price agreements with the United States, with a particular eye on Germany. U.S. government representatives are in “secret discussions” with officials in Berlin this week about drug prices, three people familiar with the discussions told Politico.
Meanwhile, Germany has drawn the ire of the pharmaceutical industry over its recently proposed healthcare reform plan, which aims to save 16.3 billion euros ($19.08 billion) in 2027, with cuts in drug spending in particular aimed at generating savings of 1.9 billion euros ($2.2 billion) next year. In response, Eli Lilly will cut its planned investment of 2.3 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in half and German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim will cut domestic spending by 900 million euros ($1 billion), German newspaper Handelsblatt first reported last week.
Handelsblatt newspaper reported on June 10 that Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, who previously told German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in a letter that the company was “considering the timing, scope and future prioritization of certain planned investments in Germany, as well as external engagement,” declined to participate in the German Investment Summit scheduled for this fall.
The situation in Germany mirrors a similar situation in the UK last year, when a small number of large pharmaceutical companies scaled back their expansion plans in the country.
Earlier this year, the UK struck a deal with the US that would exempt medicines exported to the US from tariffs in exchange for adjusting the standards by which Britain assesses the value of new medicines. At the time, Lilly CEO David Rix said this was received as an “encouraging move” in the industry.
“I’m a little jealous of the U.K.-U.S. deal,” Christian Hilmer, managing director of the prescription drug market at German trade group Pharma Deutschland, told Politico. “In Germany, the pharmaceutical industry is having a hard time bringing new drugs to market.”
According to Politico, European ministers are scheduled to discuss “drug price pressures” in Luxembourg later this month, with the topic set to be “strengthening the resilience and autonomy of Europe’s pharmaceuticals.”
The Beneluxa Initiative supports enhanced “coalition-wide collaborative efforts” that can be undertaken to ensure “spending on medicines is sustainable to protect patient access now and in the future.”
“This approach supports Europe as an attractive place to guarantee legal stability and protect scientific progress,” the group said in a statement. “This is a goal we share.”
