Sector federation bio.be/essenscia calls for ambitious pharma and biotech strategy ‘from lab to patient’ to maintain international leadership position
Belgium is the world’s leading exporter of vaccines, generating nearly 22 billion euros in 2023, ahead of the United States and Ireland. This world-leading position was highlighted by the bio.be/essenscia industry federation at its annual event held at Egmont Palace in Brussels. After supplying a large part of the world’s population during the Covid-19 crisis, thanks to the export of billions of vaccines, these figures once again demonstrate Belgium’s status as the undisputed world leader in vaccines. To maintain this position of international leadership in the development, production and distribution of vaccines and medicines, bio.be/essenscia advocates the deployment of an ambitious pharma and biotech strategy covering the entire value chain, from lab to patient.
For decades, our country has been known for its scientific knowledge and industrial expertise in vaccines at every stage of the value chain: from innovative research and clinical trials to advanced manufacturing and global logistics. During the corona pandemic, the entire world was introduced to this unique and strong ecosystem that rapidly brought vaccines to all continents. A tour de force that relied on a strong partnership between public administrations, academia, pharma and biotech companies and logistics players.
Even after the corona crisis, Belgium remains by far the world’s largest exporter of vaccines. Last year’s exports amounted to €21.9 billion. This leaves Belgium well behind the other countries in the world’s top five – the United States, Ireland, Spain and Italy. Almost a third of Belgium’s vaccine exports are exported to the United States. Other top destinations include Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Brazil, France and China. This is according to a comparative analysis based on data from the National Bank of Belgium and the United Nations Comtrade database.
Belgium is a ‘Vaccine Powerhouse’
Belgian exports of Covid-19 vaccines have logically fallen sharply in the last few months. By contrast, exports of other vaccines experienced a strong increase of nearly 20% in the first six months of this year compared to the same period last year. Belgium has attracted more than 2 billion euros of investments in vaccine production of the latest generation, such as mRNA technology, in recent years. Among others, by Pfizer in Puurs and GSK in Wavre and Gembloux. But also start-ups and scale-ups such as AstriVax in Leuven and Quantoom Biosciences – part of Univercells – in Nivelles have also helped boost innovation in the Belgian vaccine landscape.
Belgium is thus once again living up to its international reputation as a “Vaccine Powerhouse”. The recent inauguration of leading research centers such as VirusBank (KU Leuven), Vaccinopolis (UAntwerpen) and the European Plotkin Institute for Vaccinology (ULB and UAntwerpen) have reinforced Belgium’s leading position in infectious diseases, vaccine research and clinical trials. Combined with more than 30 specialized pharma and biotech companies, CDMOs (Contract Development & Manufacturing Organization) and an advanced logistics network, this forms a powerful ecosystem. It is therefore no coincidence that the Belgian pavilion at next year’s World Expo in Osaka, Japan, will be entirely dedicated to Belgium’s strengths in healthcare and vaccines.
Stimulating innovation
Belgium’s top expertise in vaccines symbolizes the very extensive know-how in pharma and biotech in our country. To maintain this international leading position, the bio.be/essenscia federation is calling for an ambitious pharma and biotech strategy at regional, national and European level to stimulate innovation, attract investment and accelerate the time-to-market of innovative medicines. This strategy must be based on an integrated approach – from the laboratory to the patient – including a solid logistics network.
Whether they are used to prevent diseases (prophylactic) or to treat them (therapeutic), vaccines need to be constantly reinvented in terms of formulation, mode of administration, field of action and production technology. To remain at the forefront of innovation, Belgium must rely on a stimulating policy, in particular by maintaining the deduction on innovation income tax in its current form, the deduction on the withholding tax for researchers and attractive tax measures for R&D to attract foreign investment.
Belgium’s role as a global logistics hub for healthcare products must also be supported. Therefore, it is crucial to further facilitate pharma cargo logistics via the airports, while maintaining night flights, develop intelligent mobility solutions and guarantee a stable regulatory framework that is committed to greater competitiveness and less regulatory pressure.
Frédéric Druck, General Secretary bio.be/essenscia: “Belgium commands respect around the world in vaccines, pharma and biotech. We owe it to ourselves and to millions of patients worldwide to continue to take this leadership role. This requires permanent investments by our companies in top innovation and the latest production technologies, but also ambitious policy choices that safeguard the sector’s competitiveness. It is therefore essential that we continue the “Biopharma R&D platform” also with the next federal government. This consultation platform between the federal government, academia and prominent players from the pharma and biotech industry has the common goal of strengthening Belgium’s international leading position in the biopharma sector, both in terms of innovation, production and logistics.”
Geoffrey Pot, President bio.be/essenscia: “A lot of life-saving vaccines and medicines were invented, developed and produced in Belgium and are exported from our country to patients in all continents. We want to continue to play this important role with our pharma and biotech sector. In dialogue with the various policy levels, we want to work on creating an attractive investment climate by removing cost handicaps, better streamlining regulations, getting medicines to patients faster and training more talent to support the growth of the sector. At the European level, Belgium was involved in the EU Biotech Act right from the start. We will ensure that the Belgian ecosystem is stimulated by these European regulations and not held back.”
Bio.be/essenscia’s annual event focused on Belgium’s top expertise in vaccines under the title ‘Innovating in Next-Gen Vaccines, Belgium takes the lead’. The event took place at the Egmont Palace in Brussels, in the presence of some 200 industry specialists including many diplomats from home and abroad. Guest speakers included Emmanuel Amory (GSK Belgium), Hanne Callewaert (AstriVax), José Castillo (Quantoom Biosciences), Jeroen Cooreman (FPS Foreign Affairs), Ranna Eardley-Patel (CEPI), Arnaud Marchant (European Plotkin Institute), Pierre Van Damme (UAntwerpen), Luc Van Steenwinkel (Pfizer Manufacturing Belgium) and Linde Van Vlasselaer (H.Essers).