The European pharmaceutical industry should receive credit for seeking to address the product innovation drought through a recently launched program, the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI).

The initiative will provide EUR 2 billion ($3.1 billion) in funding over five years for patient-centered projects that address bottlenecks in research and development. The program was launched in March by the European Community and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) (see ePT story, “Europe’s Innovation Initiative Moves Forward”).

EFPIA president and CEO of Bayer HealthCare Arthur J. Higgins was surprisingly candid when addressing the problems with the industry. “We as an industry fully accept our responsibility and are ready to play our part in bringing forward medical innovation. At the same time, we have no problem to admit that we cannot solve all these issues by ourselves—but rather, we need to join forces with partners to address the main causes of delays, or ‘bottlenecks,’ in drug discovery,” he said.

His point is well taken. Up until 1998, 7 out of 10 new drugs originated from Europe; today that figure has fallen to about 3 of 10, according to data from the European Commission.

Admittedly, IMI’s funding of $3.1 billion over five years is only a fraction of Europe’s pharmaceutical R&D spending. In 2006, pharmaceutical R&D expenditures by European companies were EUR 22.5 billion ($34.7 billion), according to EFPIA.

IMI’s funding is further dwarfed when considering R&D spending by US-based pharmaceutical research companies. In 2006, US-based pharmaceutical companies, as represented by members of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), spent $44.5 billion on R&D, according to PhRMA. Non-PhRMA pharmaceutical research companies spent $14.3 billion, according to an analysis by Burrill and Company.

But the IMI is a start. And hopefully it will trigger more creative and collaborative approaches to resolve the pharmaceutical industry’s innovation drought.