Germany needs to reverse trend in pharmaceutical innovation

Germany has some strengths to show in the competition among locations for pharmaceutical R&D, but has nevertheless been falling behind internationally for some years, for example in the area of clinical trials, according to a posting on the web site of the German pharma trade group the vfa.

The study "Pharma-Innovationsstandort Deutschland" (Pharmaceutical Innovation Location Germany) published by the vfa and management consultants Kearney identifies key reasons for this, but also points to measures for reversing the trend. These include a roundtable "Pharma-Innovationsstandort Deutschland" coordinated by the Federal Chancellery or the Federal Ministry of Health.

In their analysis, the authors of the study identify major handicaps for organizing clinical trials, access to health data and cooperation with academic research, among other things, as a burden on Germany as a location for innovation. They go into particular detail about the problems in the area of clinical studies, which affect all study sponsors (ie, study initiators) equally - pharmaceutical companies as well as research institutes and research-based physicians.