欧洲失去生物制药领导地位的教训及其恢复努力

SANDRA BARBOSU, STEPHEN EZELL, AND ESTHER SERGER |MARCH 2026 Europe once led the world in biopharmaceutical innovation, but it lost ground after adoptingpolicies that weakened incentives for R&D and innovation. America must learn from Europe’sexperience to preserve its own biopharma leadership and the related economic benefits andaccess to the most innovative drugs. KEY TAKEAWAYS Europe’s biopharmaceutical leadership eroded due to detrimental policy choices such asstringent price controls that weakened innovation incentives. Global leadership thenshifted to the United States, which had developed a more supportive environment. Price controls come with major costs. Europe’s policies led to fewer new drugs, delayeddrug launches, reduced R&D investment, and large losses in high-value life sciences jobs. For patients, time to availability—measured from regulatory approval to payer coverage—was longer in 25 of 27 EU countries than in the United States; in 22 of 27 EU countries,median delays for novel treatments exceeded one year. Current U.S. policy proposals—including expanded price controls, tariffs on medicinesand active pharmaceutical ingredients, erosion of IP protections, and cuts to federalfunding for basic research—threaten the ecosystem underpinning U.S. leadership. Conversely, policies to spur investments in advanced manufacturing, encourage public-private partnerships, and ensure more equitable global cost sharing can boost innovationwithout harming patient access or costs. To strengthen its position in biopharmaceuticals, Europe has recently introduced severalpolicy initiatives, including the “Choose Europe” campaign to attract global researchtalent and reforms in Germany to move away from international reference pricing. CONTENTS Key Takeaways ................................................................................................................. 1Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 3Europe’s Biopharmaceuticals Decline: A Cautionary Tale ....................................................... 3Price Controls ............................................................................................................... 4Consequences for European Patients ............................................................................ 6Consequences for European Drug R&D and Innovation.................................................... 7Other Factors Behind Europe’s Decline ............................................................................ 8U.S. Biopharmaceutical Leadership and Its Foundations ....................................................... 9Limited Drug Price Regulations ....................................................................................... 9Strong Research Institutions ......................................................................................... 10Innovative Pharmaceutical Regulation Legislation ........................................................... 10Robust IP Protection Regime ........................................................................................ 11Current U.S. Policy Missteps............................................................................................ 12Drug Price Controls...................................................................................................... 12The Inflation Reduction Act....................................................................................... 13Most-Favored Nation Pricing...................................................................................... 13Pharmaceutical Tariffs ................................................................................................. 14Proposed Cuts to NIH Funding ...................................................................................... 15Bayh-Dole March-In Rights ........................................................................................... 15Constructive Policy Alternatives ........................................................................................ 16Europe’s Efforts to Reclaim Biopharmaceutical Leadership.................................................. 17EU-Level Policies ........................................................................................................ 17Germany..................................................................................................................... 19France........................................................................................................................ 20Ireland ....................................................................................................................... 21The Netherlands.......................................................................................................... 22Sweden ......................................................................................