Smart Health asks the Director General at the European Medicines Agency about what steps Europe can take to improve innovation in the pharmaceutical sector.
The European Union keeps losing ground against other superpowers, such as the US and Japan when it comes to pharmaceutical innovation.
Smart Health spoke with the Director General of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), Emer Cooke, about the numerous challenges Europe faces in the industry, and how she hopes those hurdles can be overcome.
"We need to make sure that we are transparent and accessible. Especially for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Because SMEs are our superheroes. 20% of the products that we authorise in Europe are developed by SMEs. And they don't have the same resources to deal with the complexity of some of the regulatory processes that are established by legislation here.
"So we have to think about simplification. We have to think about signposting. We have to think about, is it meaningful? Does it make sense? Is it accessible?
"We are trying to put in tools that help to make the pathways clearer. And also to make sure that innovators can navigate those pathways with our help.
"The other challenge we have is expertise. Because if we think about the medicines of the future, the lines between medicines, and technologies and medical devices are blurring all the time. So we need to make sure that we have a combination of scientific skills, technological skills and that we are not just thinking the way we thought 30 years ago."
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