Building EU biotech strength beyond tariffs
Date
Sections
Brussels, 8 April 2025
Today, EuropaBio attended the Strategic Dialogue on the Pharmaceutical Sector with Commission President von der Leyen to discuss EU response to the changed landscape through US global tariffs.
Biotechnology products bring significant economic and societal value to the EU, with an economic growth rate double the EU average for the past 15 years, plus sevenfold increase trade surplus, and employment growth six times faster than the EU average.
Even with the exemption for pharmaceuticals, tariffs applied will have a substantially negative impact on this innovative sector, and patients, through globally interconnected supply chains.
In this critical moment, EuropaBio actively supports the European Commission, our company members and national biotech associations to enhance EU ambition, competitiveness and attractiveness for biotech innovators of all sizes.
Specifically, EuropaBio calls for an exemption for biopharmaceuticals and their manufacturing inputs, plus strengthening biotech value chains, to preserve and grow global resilience and positioning. We have called on the Commission to accelerate the positive work already underway for biotech through the Biotech Communication of 2024, with regulatory streamlining and the EU Biotech Act. This ambition should also be translated into related initiatives including the Life Sciences Strategy, Pharma Package, and Bioeconomy Strategy, to secure EU leadership across value chains and industrial ecosystems.
EuropaBio Director General, Dr. Claire Skentelbery commented ‘’Biotech is the critical technology in which the EU is a global leader, and from which we can achieve quick wins plus long-term benefits from its existing substantial foundation in science, skills and capacity. It is THE example of a knowledge-driven economy. The EU can rapidly deliver an ambitious agenda for biotech and the benefits will be felt by all.’’
EuropaBio is fully committed to continuing this dialogue and delivering a globally strong biotech sector within a strong European Union.