UK Originally published in the October 2025 edition of DIA’s Global Forum magazine, this article — authored by Mandy Budwal-Jagait, Kingyin Lee, Maria Urdaneta-Abate, Hedwig Ganguly, Rachel Mead, and Louisa Obillo of the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), together with Catherine Blewett of the Health Research Authority (HRA)…

Global A century after insulin’s discovery transformed Type 1 diabetes from fatal to manageable, access remains deeply unequal. Writing exclusively for PharmaBoardroom, Access to Medicine Foundation CEO Jayasree Iyer explores why half of those who need insulin worldwide still go without it and how only systemic, long-term collaboration between industry, governments,…

Denmark Not only can Denmark lay claim to some major life science inventions – from the design of the world’s first ever insulin pen and disposable ostomy pouch to breakthroughs in fundamental discovery such as the development of the Gram Stain as an essential methodology for classifying bacteria – but it…

Denmark Despite its diminutive size, Denmark boasts a world-renowned healthcare and life science industry containing both household pharma giants as well as a robust network of academia, a host of niche service providers, and a growing throng of biotech start-ups. And with life science exports surpassing EUR 23 billion last year…

Denmark When it comes to Denmark’s flourishing local biotech scene, the country is again clearly punching far above its weight. The EU member state has already managed to muster world-class expertise in areas like peptide chemistry and metabolic disorders, anchored by the success stories of homegrown entities that made it big…

Denmark Public Health Reimagined Denmark’s total health expenditure as a share of GDP has increased moderately over the past decade with the country spending 278 billion KKR (37.2 billion euros) in 2024, of which 83% was financed directly from government health schemes. Yet despite the country’s well-earned reputation for delivering high…

Denmark Making Life Sciences Strategic The super-sized contribution of the life sciences sector to Denmark’s national economy can hardly be overstated. With over 100,000 professionals currently engaged in biotech and pharmaceuticals across the country, Denmark already ranks as one of the European Union member states with the largest proportion of the…

Europe Affordability is not necessarily the main barrier to better rare disease therapy access in Europe. Across the continent, orphan availability correlates poorly with GDP per capita, but strongly with health technology assessment methods, speed of pricing and reimbursement, and central vs regional decision-making. Better system design – rather than simply…

Europe Rainer Westermann of European life science venture capital lobby group, the Life Sciences Acceleration Alliance, lays out a policy roadmap for how innovative European pharma can continue to grow and thrive against a backdrop of trade uncertainty and precarious US-EU relations.   The US/EU trade deal was presented as necessary…

Europe Europe has a plasma problem. The continent is over-reliant on the US for plasma – donated, purified human blood liquid – which is a key component in several lifesaving drugs for immunity, bleeding, critical care, and rare disorders.   The Donor Dilemma One explanation for these shortages is the lack…

UK Writing in the September 2025 edition of DIA’s Global Forum magazine, Janet Messer, Catherine Blewett, and Naho Yamazaki of the UK Health Research Authority (HRA) and Stephen Lam, Crina Cacou, Anthony Carter, and Sara Rajendran of the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), lay out how UK clinical…

Global Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the World Health Organization’s Model List of Essential Medicines (EML) in 2027, Brendan Shaw explains how the EML has evolved from a basic guide for low-income countries to a global benchmark shaping universal health coverage. Looking at the recently-published 2025 update, Shaw examines the list’s…