Despite similar approval numbers, the USA continues to outpace Europe

The NDA Group, a leading global drug development consultancy, today released findings from its third annual comparison of drug approvals in the USA and Europe, in preparation for this year's DIA EuroMeeting in Hamburg.

This year's Status of New Drug Approvals report, which finds that, in spite of similar approval numbers, the USA continues to be the first to grant approvals of new compounds, serves to emphasize the need for a streamlined global development and commercialization process across the world's two biggest markets.

This year's report – based on preliminary research figures distilled from the Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency websites on January 26, 2016 – found that the two regulatory agencies were equally productive in 2015, with a total of 89 new approvals granted. However, while 34 of those approvals came from the USA and 32 in the European Union, 24 drugs approved in the EU in 2015 had received prior approval in the USA, while only 10 products out of 34 registered in the USA in 2015 were previously approved in the EU.