Report on the ECNP Summit on the future of CNS drug research in Europe 2011
Prepared for ECNP by David Nutt and Guy Goodwin
Since the beginning of 2010, one by one, nearly all of Europe’s major pharmaceutical companies have announced significant cut-backs in their investment to CNS drug research. As many as 3,000 jobs are expected to disappear across the region as a result, along with hundreds of millions of euros of funding. The impact on Europe’s neuroscience research base is likely to be severe; the impact on Europe’s long-term mental and neurological health, as the flow of new and improved medicines slows and for some disorders even stops, is of great concern.
In March 2011 ECNP convened a Summit of key stakeholders in the field to discuss how this crisis is to be addressed.
The report, prepared by David Nutt and Guy Goodwin, summarising the findings of the Summit and outlining a programme for how the future of European neuroscience can be secured, is now published in European Neuropsychopharmacology.
“The report highlights the urgency of the Europe’s funding crisis in neuropsychiatric drug discovery. If steps aren’t taken now, as the report advises – to stimulate research and investment in both the public and private sector – the field could really suffer lasting damage. The consequences of this for the region’s long-term mental health will necessarily be negative.”
Alastair Benbow
Executive Director of the European Brain Council
|
To read the report, click here.
To read the press release, click here.
