Tagged with Europe,

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…

Portugal Speaking to PharmaBoardroom as Janseen is rebranding as Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, managing director for Portugal, Filipa Mota e Costa, discusses the affiliate’s expanded local footprint and its ranking as the number one pharmaceutical company in the country. She also explains Portugal’s market access progress, including the consolidation of…

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…

Europe The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent shortages of essential medicines and APIs laid bare Europe’s reliance on suppliers outside its borders. To combat this issue and ensure that Europe is better prepared for future health crises, the Spanish Presidency of the EU is advocating for a focus on ‘strategic autonomy’ up…

Portugal Portugal’s strong legal framework along with its low production costs and strategic location within Europe have given rise to a thriving medicinal cannabis sector. With exports in 2022 that surpassed the previous year by 63 percent and an increasing number of companies licensed for cultivation and manufacturing, the country is…

United Kingdom Since its creation over 20 years ago, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) body for England and Wales, has forged a solid reputation as one of the world’s foremost HTA authorities. Speaking at the recent FT Global Pharma and Biotech Summit, NICE…

Europe Pfizer’s David Isom and Monica Mihedji, writing in the November 2023 edition of the DIA’s Global Forum magazine, examine how the European Medicines Agency is attempting to integrate the use of artificial intelligence in its regulatory work.   Regulators are advancing information technology and data modernization initiatives to drive more…

Portugal One of Europe’s smaller nations and its westernmost, Portugal, with a pharma market worth roughly USD 3.5 billion, may not be known as the continent’s pharma powerhouse. Yet the country boasts plenty of impressive credentials —such as a national healthcare system (NHS) that is not only universal and free, but…

Spain A roundup of the latest news from Spanish pharma, including Almirall’s licensing deal with EpimAb Biotherapeutics; the opening of Insud Pharma’s oligonucleotides centre in India, and Esteve Química’s new FDA-cleared manufacturing site.   Almirall licenses bispecific platform in $210m EpimAb deal (BioProcess International) EpimAb Biotherapeutics has out-licensed the rights for…

Denmark LEO Pharma has been in the midst of a shakeup since the beginning of 2022. After naming a new CEO and announcing a major restructuring, the Danish dermatology pharma has let a considerable number of employees go, closed research centres and restructured its R&D team. While LEO’s financials look promising…

UK Could the UK’s re-joining of Horizon Europe, the EU’s EUR 95 billion research funding programme, be the latest sign that the country is ready to win back its global scientific relevance? The announcement comes just months after an ambitious government plan to “cement” the UK’s position as a science superpower,…