France and Germany catching UK in pharma r&d spending
The UK still invests significantly more in pharmaceutical r&d than other EU countries, although the gap between the UK and France and Germany is narrowing, according to European statistical office Eurostat .
The UK still invests significantly more in pharmaceutical r&d than other EU countries, although the gap between the UK and France and Germany is narrowing, according to European statistical office Eurostat .
Using figures for 2003, Eurostat says that the UK, Germany and France contributed 30%, 20% and 19% respectively to total r&d expenditure of the EU-25 members in the pharmaceutical sector.
Although UK spending still has a commanding lead, the figures indicate that the gap is slowly narrowing. The UK spend actually fell from Euro 5.25bn in 2002 to €e4.68bn in 2003. In contrast, German spending rose from €e2.49bn to €3bn and French spending from €e2.79bn to €2.99bn.
Ireland stands out among the other EU countries, with expenditure soaring from €71m in 2001 to €190m in 2003.
In terms of the level of r&d 'intensity' (expenditure/value added) in the pharmaceutical sector, the UK registered the best performance in 2003, at 58%, followed by the Netherlands (36.5%) and Denmark (32.5%).
Germany registered a rate of 28.4% with France at 26%. The average intensity for pharmaceutical r&d in the EU-25 was 26.4%; this was the highest out of all sectors - chemicals, IT, construction and services.