The EC launches the new Strategy for European Life Sciences

Bruxelles (eu24news) – The European Commission, as announced in the Political Guidelines 2024-2029, has launched today a new Strategy for European Life Sciences. The introduction of the EC communication COM(2025) 525 final states “The European Union has the ambition to become the global beacon for life sciences by 2030, offering an ecosystem where innovation thrives and breakthroughs in health, food, and sustainability improve lives”. To this end, the new Strategy proposes the following actions: optimising the research and innovation ecosystem, enabling rapid market access for life science innovations and boosting trust, uptake and use of innovation.

Ekaterina Zaharieva, EU Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, said “Science changes lives, but only if we back the people behind it. With this strategy, Europe is doing just that – funding life sciences from lab to market, supporting startups, accelerating market access, and building trust. We’re making sure bold ideas do not stay in the lab, they improve lives, right here in Europe. This will not only improve the lives of our citizens but also make Europe a more attractive and competitive place for life sciences companies to invest, innovate and grow”.

Life sciences cover economic activities that rely on knowledge of living systems, including biotechnology, agriculture, food technologies, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biobased products and biomanufacturing. According to the EC data, life sciences are a major contributor to the EU economy: they employ 29 million people and generate €1.5 trillion in value added, accounting for 9.4% of the EU’s gross domestic product.

“Our new strategy is a commitment to placing Europe at the forefront of life sciences innovation that delivers cutting-edge therapies quicker to European patients. Strengthening research and promoting groundbreaking innovations will not only advance health and well-being: life sciences also creates competitiveness, economic growth and jobs. We are paving the way for a healthier, smarter Europe”, pointed out the EU Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare, Olivér Várhelyi.

This new Strategy, addresses different sectors, aims to unlock the full potential of life sciences for European competitiveness and the wellbeing of its people and to boost innovation. In particular, with reference to the healthcare sector, three strategic actions are defined: the modernisation of the medical devices regulations, the upcoming European Biotech Act and the new Cardiovascular Health Plan. Moreover, The Commission has decided to mobilise €300 million to stimulate the procurement of life science innovation in areas such as next-generation vaccines and affordable cancer solutions.

The EPP Group’s spokesman in the Parliament’s Committee on Public Health (SANT), Tomislav Sokol MEP, said ” I see today’s Life Science Strategy as an important opportunity to keep health high on the EU agenda and to further strengthen EU rules, including pharmaceuticals and medical devices. It is important – continued Sokol – that we continue to recognise the EU pharmaceutical sector as strategic, but it true that it is facing an increasingly stronger competition from foreign powers, such as USA and China. Thus, we have to focus on competitiveness and strategic autonomy, use our strengths such as world class research institutions, but also tackle the challenges, such as providing much more capital for upscaling of European research companies. Furthermore, I am pleased to see that both medical devices and clinical trials, especially multi country trials, are explicitly mentioned in the Strategy”. “The explicit mention of future simplification legislation for medical devices particularly reflects priorities of the EPP, to remove bottlenecks without jeopardising safety of the patients.  It is now crucial to use this momentum, and the Life Science Strategy will support our efforts, to secure a separate and dedicated funding line for health in the next Multiannual Financial Framework. That is what we are strongly fighting for now”, concluded  Sokol.