Italy The electoral victory of the centre-right coalition in Italy should see far-right firebrand Giorgia Meloni replace former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi as Prime Minister at the end of October 2022, becoming the first woman to ever hold the role. This spirit of change seems also to have permeated…

Europe The EU biopharmaceutical ecosystem is currently languishing in third place globally. EUCOPE’s Alexander Natz discusses how the European Commission’s most fundamental review of the pharmaceutical legislation in decades is supposed to change that but in reality, is discouraging innovation and competitiveness.   The European Commission’s ambition to future-proof the EU…

Sweden Svante Paabo has won the 2022 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his ground-breaking work in paleogenetics. Paabo’s research – which includes sequencing the genome of the Neanderthal for the first time – has wide-ranging implications for the study of human evolution, as well as in the development of…

Ireland Recent announcements from Ipsen and AbbVie of multimillion Euro investments into Irish manufacturing plants underline the Celtic nation’s continuing attractiveness to pharma multinationals. While an upcoming hike in Ireland’s famously low corporate taxation rates could dampen investor enthusiasm, industry insiders are bullish on the country’s continuing attractiveness.   Banking on…

Germany A roundup of some of the biggest recent stories from German pharma, including the latest on beleaguered Bayer CEO Werner Baumann, Merck KGaA’s latest investments in France and Germany, and STADA securing the first authorized treatment in Europe for the rare kidney disease immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN).   Bayer’s hunt…

Spain Over the course of 2022, PharmaBoardroom spoke to over 50 leading stakeholders in the Spanish healthcare and life sciences, from top Spanish scientists to regional ministers of health, multinational affiliate managers, and the heads of some of the country’s leading domestic firms. These interviewees’ insights are catalogued in the downloadable…

Netherlands The latest news from the Dutch pharma, biotech and healthcare industries, including the bullish comments of Argenx CEO Tim Van Hauwermeiren following the successful launch of its Vyvgart product; cancer diagnostic firm Agendia’s decision to withdraw from a US IPO; and the latest on cross-border travel and vaccines in the…

Italy Digitalisation has become a buzz word in in the global life sciences sector. In Italy, digital transformation has taken on special significance as one of the principal goals encompassed in the country’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan and a priority within its healthcare modernisation plans.   Novel solutions came out…

Italy The Italian system requires drug companies to go through approvals at a national level with the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA), only to then confront the country’s 21 regional authorities who independently manage the budget for territorial pharmaceutical expenditure and evaluate regional access. According to many industry stakeholders, this lengthy process…

Italy Historically, SIFI has been a modest local player focused on ophthalmic products, but in recent years the company has set some ambitious goals for itself—becoming a leading force in European ophthalmic markets, breaking into orphan drugs and adding value in the glaucoma field—and is now seeing its ambitions become a…

Italy Seasoned executive Pierluigi Antonelli went from a career in big pharma to Angelini Pharma, a midsized Italian company that has been undergoing major transformation. He shares the motivation behind the move and the main components of the company’s transformational journey.   Rather than continue on the perhaps easier path he…

Italy Collectively representing almost 400 companies operating in Italy, Farmindustria, Egualia (formerly Assogenerici) and Assobiotec respectively promote the interests of innovative pharmaceutical companies—both foreign and Italian-owned— the generics, biosimilars and value-added medicines sector, and biotech. Massimo Scaccabarozzi, former President of Farmindustria; Michele Uda, director general of Egualia, and Leonardo Vingiani, managing…