Innovative drugs plan
The creation of a European centre for drug safety, co-ordinating safety checks staged by biomedical pharmaceutical manufacturers, has been proposed by a European Technology Platform on innovative medicines. The private-public group made the suggestion in a biomedicine strategic research agenda*, which aims to improve predictivity of safety evaluation and efficacy assessments; knowledge management, and training.
The agenda suggests creating IT tools securely networking currently stand-alone databases. The platform, established by the Commission, under the ongoing EU sixth framework programme for research, said €440m is needed over seven years to implement its recommendations.
The Commission's research directorate general said: 'Europe has lost its place as a global centre for biomedical research as its r&d base has gradually eroded and leading-edge research has moved to the US'. Between 1990 and 2003, r&d investment in Europe grew 2.6 times, whilst US investment rose fourfold.