Global Every year, the world’s top business and political leaders converge on the ski village of Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum meeting. Read on for some of the key themes discussed at this year’s conference, which stand to shape the healthcare and life sciences industry in the coming year.…

Spain Having forged a solid position in clinical research in 2020 and 2021 when it became the fourth nation in the world and the first in Europe for studies conducted around COVID-19, Spain has continued consolidating its status as a leading clinical trials hub and registered over 900 trials in 2022,…

Belgium Belgium, one of Europe’s most important countries for biopharmaceutical production and R&D, assumed presidency of the Council of the European Union on the first of January. As part of its Presidency Programme, Belgium has highlighted health as one of its 14 focus areas, with the hope of strengthening the three…

France With revenues projected to reach USD 27.01 billion in 2024, France’s pharma market is ranked fifth globally. Home to a number of well-established local pharma players and a sought-after destination for international investments, France is looking to boost innovation, attracting the largest number of R&D centres in Europe in 2022,…

Portugal Portugal boasts a well-developed universal healthcare system and saw healthcare spending increase by 6.2 percent annually between 2016 and 2021, according to the OECD. However, the representatives of innovative medicines manufacturers embedded in the country are keen to point out that access to the latest drugs remains a big issue…

Europe A new piece in the January 2023 edition of DIA’s Global Forum magazine lays out how a new coalition aims to transform the landscape for rare disease treatments in Europe and beyond.   The knowledge and infrastructure required to unlock rare disease “white spots,” diseases where there is currently no…

United Kingdom The recent FDA decision to investigate the serious risk of patients developing new cancers after treatment with CAR-T therapies may have created some bad press around cell and gene therapies, but AstraZeneca has continued to consolidate its ambitions in the area with the acquisition of China-based cell therapy biotech, Gracell…

Denmark After transitioning from a fledgling biotech to a mature commercial-stage company on the back of its first approval, Zealand Pharma was hit with the challenges of commercialisation and the disappointing sales of its severe hypoglycemia treatment, Zegalogue. As a result, in 2022, the Danish firm did an about face, sacked…

France Just five months after taking office, Aurélien Rousseau resigned from his role as health minister in protest against France’s recently adopted immigration law. Interim replacement Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, the sixth health minister since 2017, is not expected to stay long after accusations relating to gifts she obtained from pharma…

UK A roundup of the biggest stories from UK pharma, including the latest agreement between the British government and industry on a renewed drug pricing clawback scheme; GSK’s search for deals in China; the London-based CRO hVIVO’s new USD 21 million contract, and the latest biotech arising from Cambridge startup incubator…

Europe The European Union’s just-released and first essential medicines list is the latest in a series of measures designed to limit the bloc’s reliance on countries outside its borders and avoid drug shortages. As Elisabeth Stampa of generic and biosimilar lobby group Medicines for Europe recently explained to PharmaBoardroom, this is…

United Kingdom AstraZeneca has made a bold move by offering its in-house digital clinical trial expertise to clinical research organisations (CROs) and other pharmaceutical companies via the launch of healthtech business Evinova. AstraZeneca’s apparent willingness to share expertise with its competitors has raised some eyebrows, but the British firm is steadfast in…