Manufacturing and export provisions: Impact on the competitiveness of European pharmaceutical manufacturers and on the creation of jobs in Europe

Abstract

European pharmaceutical manufacturers are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with pharmaceutical players established outside Europe. As a result, Europe has witnessed the migration of jobs, R&D centres and production units to other parts of the world, leading to the gradual deindustrialization of the European pharmaceutical sector. This paper seeks to address this concern by showing that minor adjustments in the Intellectual Property rights regime in Europe may lead to a relevant impact on fostering innovation, high-tech employment and reindustrialization, thus contributing to the competitiveness of the European industrial pharmaceutical activity and to the European economic recovery. Two major pragmatic measures are discussed and evaluated: the manufacturing provision and the export provision. As illustrated below, over the next 9 years, the European ratification of the manufacturing provision and of the export provision could potentially represent a €3,339 million business volume (at ex-work prices); generate up to 8,890 new direct jobs and 35,560 new indirect jobs; and potentially generate the investment associated to the enhancement of manufacturing capacity equivalent to the creation of 37 new medium-sized pharmaceutical enterprises. It should be emphasized that for this study only 73% of the European market ( manufacturing provision) and 11% of the non-European market ( export provision) was considered for calculation purposes. Hence, these already impressive numbers are just a sample of the full potential of these Provisions.