A recent report by the Office of Health Economics, commissioned by EFPIA, shows that elevated BMI is associated with 278,000 deaths and almost 8 million years of healthy life lost annually across eight European countries. The economic costs are equally significant, accounting for 0.6% to 1.4% of national GDP.

Elevated BMI costs France an estimated €23.3 billion annually (€343 per capita), split between €19.2 billion in direct costs (82%) and €4.1 billion in indirect costs (18%). Overall, expenditure related to elevated BMI amounts to roughly 0.8% of GDP, approximately half the defence budget.

Find out more in the report and the infographic.

The session Securing Europe’s access to future medical breakthroughs brought together policymakers, patient and industry representatives to discuss the choices needed to strengthen Europe’s position in medical research and ensure patients benefit from innovation.

Watch the recording here.