A report from the French Association of Biotechnology, France Biotech, could be alerting the French health-care sector this week. The report lists the top European countries leading in clinical development – with France clearly dragging behind other Western European countries.
Based on data from the EU Clinical Trials Register, the data compiled by France Biotech reveals which countries are on the forefront of healthcare innovation, by pushing clinical development. The gold medal seems to be destined for Germany, which has the highest number of trials running in all three phases of clinical research. While UK and Spain are competing for place 2 and 3, the French are lagging behind in all stages.
“The low position of France is explained by the existence of regulatory obstacles to innovation in areas of medicines and medical devices, and also by inadequate benefit-risk assessment – zero risk does not exist in research”, says Maryvonne Hiance, President of France Biotech, who is alerting the French government on the loss of attractiveness of France for the conduction of clinical trials.
Apart from a lack of support for cutting-edge clinical development, the French delay in clinical research will translate into delayed access to new clinical investigations for patients. According to France Biotech, it will also have economic impacts for the hospitals themselves, who will receive less funding from innovative healthcare companies.
Being placed in Berlin, we can only confirm that it feels like clinical development is flourishing around us. Tell us about your opinion on clinical attractiveness of European countries!
Images via France Biotech and Dmitry Guzhanin / shutterstock.com