Pharma figures high in EU R&D Investment Scoreboard, but led by US firms

Though not topping the league table, the pharmaceutical industry had a number of drugmakers among the top 10 research spenders in the European Commission's 2013 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, which was released yesterday (November 18).

The 6.2% increase on average in R&D growth of the Scoreboard companies came despite a slowdown of net sales growth (+4.2% versus +9.9% in 2011) and a 10.1% decline in operating profits in 2012. The European Union's overall positive results were largely driven by the R&D growth rates of German companies, particularly in the automobile sector. German carmaker Volkswagen is the world’s largest private sector R&D investor, leading the EU Scoreboardwith an investment of 9.5 billion euros ($12.8 billion) in 2012.

Other companies in the top-10 include five based in the USA (with three pharma companies - Merck & Co, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer), and two in Switzerland (Roche and Novartis, both pharmas). In terms of the top 10 EU companies alone, France’s Sanofi came in at number 4, with an R&D spend of 4.91 billion euros, followed by the UK’s GlaxoSmithKline at number 6 with 4.23 billion euros in 2012. In total, R&D investment by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies topped the category listing with investment not far short of 100 billion euros.