The European Commission wants to advance the EU’s biotech sector and has launched an ambitious new programme to strengthen it, ensure accessibility for European citizens, and support continued innovation.
According to the Commission, the biotech sector contributes around €40 billion to the European economy.
The newly-proposed Biotech Act will help boost those numbers. It aims to connect laboratories and research with companies. It will ease investments and funding for biotech companies, with a health biotech investment pilot programme created with the European Investment Bank.
The act also aims to ease research and production within Europe by speeding up approval of trials across countries, simplifying EU regulations, and providing a single regulatory pathway for complex but innovative products.
“We are unlocking a new era of growth in the health sector with the Biotech Act, making Europe a global hub for health biotechnology,” said Commissioner for Health Olivér Várhelyi.
Together with the Biotech Act, the Commission is also working to simplify rules for medical devices, another European excellence, responsible for a turnover of around €170 billion across the bloc. However, current rules often overlap, creating unnecessary burdens on producers and patients.
The simplified rules will offer clear solutions and access, along with a new framework that will also support digitalisation. The Commission will have the European Medicines Agency (EMA) coordinate this effort.
Overall, the new rules are expected to have cost savings of €3.3 billion per year. For Valdis Dombrovskis, Commissioner for Economy and Productivity, “this will speed up access to innovative medical devices and boost the competitiveness of a sector that is vital to Europe’s economy.”
