TTIP report study highlights the positive benefits of ambitious pharmaceutical provisions
24.05.16
Entitled, “How a Strong Pharmaceutical Chapter in TTIP will Benefit the EU”, and undertaken by Copenhagen Economics – an experienced economics consultancy – the study was commissioned by EFPIA.
Pointing to the fact that the industry already is highly interconnected across the Atlantic, it notes that, while there are virtually no tariffs on pharmaceutical products, non-tariff barriers remain high and impose a cost burden to pharmaceutical companies operating in Europe equivalent to a tariff of 19%. The report concludes that an ambitious pharmaceutical chapter in TTIP that cuts unnecessary duplicative costs will reduce these barriers, thereby freeing up resources – both for EU pharmaceutical companies (to invest, e.g. in the development of new medicines) and for regulators on both sides of the Atlantic.
"The EU-US free trade agreement needs active support now more than ever. The Parliament can, and should, play an active part in keeping the negotiations on track. The EFPIA study highlights the value that the agreement can bring through aligning regulatory systems, which will reduce trade barriers and benefit citizens and companies on both sides of the Atlantic," said MEP Christofer Fjellner.
“In light of these findings, it is not surprising that the pharmaceutical industry supports efforts to negotiate an ambitious pharmaceutical chapter in the TTIP agreement. We are confident that the industry, authorities and, most importantly, patients will benefit from a state-of-the art deal,” said EFPIA Director General Richard Bergström.
The pharmaceutical industry, the report notes, has a major economic footprint in the EU and is a strong export sector. “Ensuring good market access to foreign markets globally – which TTIP would, at least in part, achieve – is critical therefore to continued export growth and job creation. This is in line with country analyses we previously conducted in Denmark and Ireland, which show that the pharmaceutical industry is the number one industry when it comes to delivering jobs and welfare gains from TTIP – by quite a wide margin,” said Martin Thelle, Partner and Managing Director at Copenhagen Economics.