• €21.7bn from clinical trial activity itself 

• €3.6bn in R&D spillover benefits and  

• €10.4bn from improved workforce productivity through the prevention of 26.9 million sick days.  

In total, this activity supports 165,000 jobs across Europe, including over 45,000 clinical research jobs and over 120,000 jobs associated with indirect and induced impacts of this activity. 

An 11% rise in trials is the new target set by the European Commission, European Medicines Agency and Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA). Meeting this target would equate to around an extra 500 multinational trials over the next five years, increasing from 900 to 1,000 per year. 

This target would be a meaningful first step towards reversing a decade-long decline in Europe’s share of global industry-sponsored clinical trials, which fell from 22% in 2013 to 12% in 2023. Over the same period, trial numbers have increased globally, while China’s share rose sharply from 8% in 2013 to 29% in 2023. The US remained stable at around 17%. 

If these targets for attracting clinical trials are met, EU healthcare systems and the wider economy would also benefit from an extra €4bn a year in economic activity, the creation of 18,000 new jobs and the prevention of three million sick days.

This report builds our previous report for the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), which focused on the benefits to the UK economy, the NHS, and UK R&D. 

Click here to read the full report ‘The economic impact of industry clinical trials across Europe’