How Spain Became Big Pharma’s New Hotspot in Europe
Spain ranks first in Europe for clinical trials and is attracting investment in life sciences, but faces intense competition including from China.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visits the Novartis plant in La Almunia de Doña Godina, Zaragoza, on Feb. 4.
Photographer: Ramon Comet/Europa Press/Getty Images
Big Pharma has aimed some choice words at European countries in recent weeks, including calling the UK “uninvestable” and warning that the region as a whole is fast losing its edge to China.
Yet even as Europe is buffeted by change — the clamor for Chinese biotech or, more recently, the rush to appease US President Donald Trump — one country is showing there could still be a way to build up a pharmaceutical industry: by giving companies what they want.