Europe’s share of global commercial clinical drug trials almost halved over the past decade as pharmaceutical companies turned to the US and China to take advantage of their simpler regulatory regimes, according to industry representatives.
The proportion of commercial trials being carried out in the European Economic Area dropped to 12 per cent of world studies in 2023 from 22 per cent in 2013, according to a report to be published on Tuesday by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations lobby group and by data provider IQVIA.
The number of clinical trials across the world increased by 38 per cent over the same period, according to the report. China has doubled the number of commercial trials it conducts since 2018 and now accounts for 18 per cent of the global total, the report said. North America saw its share slip from 26 per cent to 23 per cent over the same period but the US remains the leader in such testing.