Ireland’s upcoming presidency of the European Council is an opportunity to prioritise policies that can improve the competitiveness of the European pharmaceutical industry, a lobby group has said.
Biopharmachem Ireland (BPCI), the Ibec group representing the biopharmaceutical and chemical industries, has said the Government should set out an agenda of policy work that includes the fast-tracking of reforms aimed at speeding up clinical trial approvals and developing new funding mechanisms for European pharma companies.
Specifically, the lobby group is calling for swift progress on legislation, including the Critical Medicines Act and the EU Biotech Act.
BPCI said the Critical Medicines Act is aimed at improving “supply chain resilience and patient access to medicines, while avoiding unintended cost or administrative burdens that could undermine competitiveness or create barriers for SMEs”.
READ MORE
The EU Biotech Act, meanwhile, is aimed at speeding up clinical trial approvals.
BPCI stressed the need for Europe to close the pharma “innovation gap” with other jurisdictions. “Without reform, value creation, scale-up, and first-launch markets will migrate elsewhere,” it warned.
“As Ireland prepares to assume the presidency of the Council of the European Union in the latter half of 2026, there is a unique window of opportunity to set a policy work programme that promotes the competitiveness and secures the resilience of one of Europe’s most strategic sectors,” said BPCI director Sinead Keogh
“We are acutely aware of ongoing global energy volatility and geopolitical instability, but energy is just one part of a broader competitiveness challenge.
“Alongside championing an Affordable Energy Action Plan that recognises the biopharmachem sector as a strategically significant, energy-intensive industry, the Irish Government must prioritise policies that support innovation, strengthen supply chains and ensure Europe remains a global leader in life sciences.”
Tim Shanahan, vice president of external manufacturing operations at French pharmaceutical group Ipsen and chairman of BPCI, said Europe and Ireland’s long-term success in the biopharma and chemical industries is not guaranteed.
“The EU’s position as a life sciences leader is one that must be reinforced and upheld by strategic policy intervention,” he said.
After meeting with European pharma lobbyists last month, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Helen McEntee said: “Our EU presidency offers a unique opportunity to influence and shape the competitiveness agenda for the years ahead.
“This should include fostering an environment where the industries of the future can flourish.”
The life sciences sector currently employs over 100,000 people in Ireland and contributes to 9.4 per cent of EU GDP, she added.
The Republic assumes the presidency on July 1st.
Last week, the White House said the US would impose tariffs of as much as 100 per cent on certain imported medicines, albeit with several major exemptions in the administration’s latest move to pressure drugmakers to manufacture more in the US.
