Francisco Guerreiro questions the pharmaceutical lobby's interference in the research of coronaviruses

Lisbon, 28 May, 2020 - MEP Francisco Guerreiro (PAN) questioned the European Commission about the conclusions of a study by two Non-Governmental Organizations (Global Health Advocates and Corporate Europe Observatory) indicating that the pharmaceutical companies involved in public-private partnerships with the EU have decisively interfered with EU-funded research projects, even blocking a proposal for research on coronaviruses in 2018. 

The NGO report "More private than public: the ways Big Pharma dominates the Innovative Medicines Initiative" points out that several areas of research on human health have been neglected by large pharmaceutical companies that have contracts with the EU, despite being included in the proposals of the European Commission and their need for funding and research. On the other hand, these companies have been pressing for funding on projects that focus on areas that are commercially more profitable for them.

Within the neglected health areas is the prevention of epidemics. The study reveals that, in 2018, the EU raised the possibility of investigating bioprevention, that is, the prevention of epidemics, but that the pharmaceutical industry was opposed to it being included in the work of the Innovative Medicines Initiative. 

"It seems that we are facing a situation in which the pharmaceutical sector has control over the EU and how it invests in health. Clearly, the priorities of the pharmaceutical sector will never be the same as those of European citizens, for reasons of commercial profit. Without guarantees that a certain disease will break out, the pharmaceutical industry has little incentive to invest in its prevention or cure. This is why there is an urgent need for greater transparency in this research project selection process and to find out how and why this investigation into coronaviruses didn’t go ahead. Has the EU given in to pressure from the pharmaceutical lobby or was it the EU itself that failed to see pandemic prevention as a priority?," the MEP asked.

See below the questions put to the Commission: 

The pharmaceutical industry’s control over EU funding for scientific research

A study by the NGOs Global Health Advocates and Corporate Europe Observatory found that major pharmaceutical companies involved in public-private partnerships with the EU decided not to invest in research into human health that required significant investment, opting instead to invest in more lucrative projects.

One area of human health that was excluded from investment was the prevention of epidemics. According to the study, pharmaceutical companies blocked research into the coronavirus proposed by the EU in 2018. This is clearly a situation where the interests of major pharmaceutical companies take precedence over those of the EU. Can the Commission clarify:

1. What criteria are used to select the projects that will be funded by these public-private partnerships?
2. What went on between the EU and EFPIA (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations) that led to the EU’s request in 2018 for funding raised to be used for coronavirus research being denied?
3. If the EU agrees with the decision of the pharmaceutical companies not to invest in areas that the EU itself has proposed, what funding is available for these areas?

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