Quantifying public and private investment in European biopharmaceutical research and development

Abstract

Abstract Robust biopharmaceutical research and development (R&D) ecosystems require investment from both the public and private sectors. In Europe, there is an interest in growing biopharmaceutical R&D given its contribution to public health and the economy, which requires an understanding of current public and private investment. In addition, recent European draft legislation has focused on the public sector's contributions to biopharmaceutical R&D to inform pharmaceutical prices. However, there is little empirical evidence on the specifics of public and private funding for medicine R&D in Europe. This paper performs aggregative data collection to quantify 2019 investment in biopharmaceutical R&D by the public and private sectors in 6 countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Norway, Poland, and the United Kingdom. We find that, across these countries, the private sector accounts for just under two-thirds of investment. We contrast results to those obtained using high-level R&D indicators from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and contextualize differences. We then provide 2013–2019 estimates for Belgium, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom (countries with data to support such analysis), and show that total spending grew over those years, although proportions attributable to each sector remained stable. These findings should provide further evidence for debates on policies to effectively grow the biopharmaceutical R&D sector.