Joint initiative of 5 EU countries calls for ‘unified approach’ to pharma framework amid US drug pricing pressure

With drug pricing pressure building from the U.S., a healthcare-focused consortium of five European countries is calling for a “unified approach” to strengthen Europe’s pharmaceutical framework and access to innovative medicines.

Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria and Ireland together make up the Beneluxa Initiative, a joint healthcare partnership that aims to make new, innovative medicines more affordable and strives for “more balance in the pharmaceutical market.” In a June 10 statement, the group stressed the need to address shared healthcare challenges through a “European framework rather than through uncoordinated individual national responses, while still respecting national competences.”

“In turbulent geopolitical times, we believe that the current developments in the pharmaceutical system require unity and coordination to safeguard long-term affordable pharmaceutical care for European patients, while providing a strong and targeted approach to innovation in Europe,” the Beneluxa Initiative wrote.

The call from the group comes as the U.S. government applies pressure on other countries to follow the lead of the U.K. and its U.S.-U.K. pharmaceutical partnership, according to Politico.

The publication reported on Tuesday that a full-scale initiative is underway to sway other European countries to strike drug pricing deals with the U.S., with a close eye on Germany, especially. Three people familiar with the talks told Politico that U.S. government representatives are holding “secret talks” with officials in Berlin on drug prices this week.

Meanwhile, Germany has caught the ire of the pharma industry for its recently proposed healthcare reform plan, which looks to save 16.3 billion euros ($19.08 ​billion) in 2027, with cuts in drug spending specifically meant to generate 1.9 billion euros ($2.2 billion) in savings next year. In response, Eli Lilly is cutting its planned investment of 2.3 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in half, while German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim is slashing its domestic spending by 900 million euros ($1 billion), German newspaper Handelsblatt first reported last week.

Pfizer’s CEO, Albert Bourla, who had previously told Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich ​Merz that the company was “reviewing our external engagements as well as the timing, scope, and future prioritization of certain planned investments in Germany” in a letter, has now pulled out of an “Invest in Germany Summit” planned for this fall, Handelsblatt reported on June 10.

The situation in Germany echoes a similar storyline from the U.K. last year, when a handful of major drugmakers reduced their planned expansions in the country.

Earlier this year, the U.K. struck a deal with the U.S., which will free it from tariffs on pharmaceutical products exported to America in exchange for the U.K. adjusting the thresholds under which it assesses the value of new drugs. This was received by the industry as an “encouraging move,” Lilly CEO David Ricks said at the time.

European ministers are set to discuss “drug pricing pressures” in Luxembourg later this month, according to Politico, with the agenda described as “strengthening Europe’s pharmaceutical resilience and autonomy.”

The Beneluxa Initiative, for its part, backs increased “collaborative efforts across the Union,” which can be undertaken to ensure that “our expenditure on medicines remains sustainable to protect access for patients now and into the future.”

“This approach endorses Europe as an attractive location that guarantees legal stability and safeguards scientific advancement,” the group said in its statement. “This is a goal we share.”