The COVID-19 pandemic has shown what can be achieved when countries work together on health research and innovation. Vaccines were developed successfully, and effective treatments were researched and shared internationally.

Can the EU encourage a similarly collaborative approach to health research and innovation systematically? As Europe’s population ages and healthcare costs increase, could spreading research costs between Member States help prevent unequal access to care?

We put some of YOUR questions on this topic to a panel of experts:

  • Jacki Davis, Moderator
  • Virginia Acha, Global Lead, Global Regulatory Policy, MSD
  • Pierre Meulien, Biotechnology / R&I Consultant

How can the EU best support health research and innovation? Where should the EU be focusing its resources? Do we need new ways to keep people healthy and prevent diseases? Do we need urgent investment in digital healthcare technologies to help drive down costs? How can the EU help health research and innovation thrive? Let us know your thoughts and comments in the form below and we’ll take them to policymakers and experts for their reactions!



23 comments Post a commentcomment

What do YOU think?

  1. avatar
    EU-Reform Proactive

    I don’t like to have my thoughts & options curtailed!

    • Wouldn’t innovation in political supranational & economic international organisations save us money, which can be freed for R&D- before accepting the status quo forever?

    Example:

    • OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) vs a political EU/USE.

    • Why should Nations spend extra time & money to obtain global economic relevance (via OECD 38) & spend additional taxes/money to achieve both- economic relevance (via the EU27) plus accept the loss of one’s inalienable right to our UN-guaranteed sovereignty (EU27-USE27) In balance, why accept a net loss?

    • Is that political overkill, necessary to satisfy some ever-burning political egos or just craziness?

    “The Paris-based OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) is an international organisation of 38 countries committed to democracy and the free market economy. This excludes some of the world’s largest economies, such as China and Russia.”

    https://www.oecd.org/

    More info here:

    https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glossary:Organisation_for_Economic_Co-operation_and_Development_(OECD)

    https://www.oecd.org/innovation/theoecdglobalisationandinnovationrespondingtoachangingglobaleconomy.htm

    Sorry, but the EU need to eventually decide whether to be/become a mini-UN, a mini-NATO, a mini-OECD, a mini of everything or a mini of nothing.

  2. avatar
    Roger Taylor

    By true collaboration. It’s not a race between companies but time. Although a little healthy competition is OK.

  3. avatar
    Jevgeni

    Purchasing of research on the potential threats from state and private universities, reseach centers and pharma businesses with more transparent financing. AND demanding these research results to be available for EU, not for these greedy businesses. Then, may be, in the future we can avoid situation when top EU management buys something unfinished and not proven to be working with huge amounts of money without a tender nor any transparent conditions, and then trying to hide all the traces how it has been done.

  4. avatar
    Lili

    Through government, public, EU’s and private funds. Trough positive legislation which priority these!

  5. avatar
    Milan

    Konspirationsteorier och foliehattar överallt

  6. avatar
    Remco

    Stop selling medical innovation of a university to big farmaceutical companies. ..Start a medical factory in Europe that is of and for the people that’s “non profit ” .When medical cost drop with 80% because of Europe. , Europe could become popular.

  7. avatar
    Piotr

    Innovation needs a lot of things, but regulations are definitely not on the list.

  8. avatar
    Łukasz

    Do not Belive to any organisation

  9. avatar
    Adam

    These memes are getting weirder and weirder

  10. avatar
    Łukasz

    pandemics are natural, normal phenomenon:) many people forgot it:)

  11. avatar
    João

    You guys know that Ursula von der Leyen salary received +30.000EUR “inflation” adjustment?!That’s a very smart regulation right there, isn’t it?

  12. avatar
    Paweł

    Less regulations = better life!

  13. avatar
    Karol

    And how EU, which is regulated to the very bottom of it’s institutions, is exactly innovative? AFAIC most crucial innovations come from US and and east Asia (China, South Korea). Do we have EU social media, do we have any significant smartphone player and how is EU progressing on AI?

  14. avatar
    Andreas

    It would be a great progress, if the health research would focus on how to help people, instead of how to make money for the industry.

  15. avatar
    Willem

    The best for Europe is that the EU abolishes itself.

  16. avatar
    Nile

    Pandemic wasn’t stopped yet but they are telling us how they won :). There are mortality data across EU and situation in eastern europe is tragic but nobody cares.

  17. avatar
    Adam

    Typical sowiet chinise way of thinking!

  18. avatar
    Michael

    If there was a deadly pandemic like the pest again. No one of you unqualified thinkers will stop it. We all have to live now, with a new existing flu, you call covid-19. It changed from a hard virus to a less lethal one and will mostly get weaker with every evolution. Your vaccine is….uhm, not a vaccine at all??? So if there would be something way worst, mankind won’t stop it at the beginning. It will take it’s toll and on a certain point you get the chance to handle against it and end it quicker. But the way the sickness needs to peak out in spread, you guys are helpless. It’s not: “Ah, the rats have lice, ah those lice spread the sickness, ah this medicine could stop spreading. It’s now: “Oh, a new sickness, it’s stable against antibiotics, this medicine won’t work too…….” Stuck in a situation, with lot of medicine, but can’t handle a virus, which was specially breeded and has broken out of a research labor. That origin you can’t hide anymore after 2 years. And after all that, an institution in the US is still working and “learning” about Cov-Sars-2 and playing around now, with an 80% deadlier variation then the original and delta variation. If there’s an breakout of it again, with a high death toll, than guess where it came from.

  19. avatar
    Lydia

    That we were fooled and are now paying the consequences

  20. avatar
    JT HK

    Europe should stop lip servicing now by preparing another outbreak of COVID. According to 2020 experience, immediately after the US outbreak, COVID spread to Europe quickly probably through military drills and probably all socioeconomic connections.

  21. avatar
    JT HK

    The COVID taught us that politicians lip servicing human rights are those who ignore human lives. When the US is “offering help to China COVID outbreak” (rejected by China), https://www.reuters.com/…/us-ready-help-china-covid-19…/ the US is suffering from medicine shortage already announced in early December >> https://www.fda.gov/…/drug-safety-and…/drug-shortages https://healthnews.com/…/drug-shortages-in-us-what…/

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