Pharmaceutical Research in Germany Is Stagnating
High-tech agenda offers an opportunity to overcome obstacles: “Germany doesn’t have a problem with knowledge; Germany has a problem with putting that knowledge into practice.”
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pharmaceutical research and development in Germany is stagnating, contrary to the federal government’s assurances that it intends to expand Germany as a pharmaceutical hub. Key indicators, such as the number of industry-sponsored clinical trials or Germany’s share of global patient recruitment for trials, have hardly changed over the past two years. The same applies to the country rankings. By contrast, Germany performs particularly well in basic medical research and patent applications. These findings are presented in the latest “PROUD Update” publication by Fraunhofer Gesundheit, the Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (vfa) and its member companies, as well as the agency Vintura. PROUD stands for“Pharma Research& DevelopmentPerformance Measurementin Germany.”
The PROUD surveys, conducted since 2024, make it possible to assess the effectiveness of government initiatives aimed at strengthening Germany’s position as a research hub and, in the future, to track the effects of the High-Tech Agenda (HTAD).
From a Hub of Knowledge to a Hub of Value Creation
For a long time now, the strong output of basic medical research in this country has not been matched by an equivalent output in development projects for new drugs.
“Germany doesn’t have a problem with knowledge; Germany has a problem with translation,” says Prof. Dr. Ulrike Köhl, vice chair of the Fraunhofer Health Network. “It invests heavily in bright minds and excellent research. But then bureaucracy, funding gaps, and parochialism choke off the engine of value creation. Other countries are taking off. That is why we need a transformation from a center of knowledge to a center of value creation in order to maintain and regain international competitiveness and technological sovereignty. This means speeding up application processes, providing targeted funding for developments in advanced stages, and strategically focusing on key technologies.”
There is a particular funding problem for startups and research institutes that develop new drugs based on German basic research and then out-license them to larger pharmaceutical companies before they are ready for approval. They still receive too little venture capital—especially for the particularly costly clinical development phases.
“But where funding dries up, the projects—and with them the IP rights and expertise—migrate abroad, to places where real investment is taking place,” said Dr. Matthias Meergans, Managing Director of Research Policy at the vfa. “Knowledge that is not translated into products within our own country thus serves as economic development for other nations. We therefore need a coherent, overarching strategy—coordinated across ministries and sectors—for strengthening research and development along the pharmaceutical value chain in Germany.”
An opportunity to do better lies in the ongoing development of the roadmap for the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR)’s high-tech agenda, which is explicitly intended to generate investment and jobs in the biotechnology sector as well. According to Fraunhofer Health and the vfa, the following success factors should be included in the roadmap:
- Targeted funding instead of blanket funding
- nationwide uniform standards
- Deregulation of approval and access procedures
- Government agencies serving as a one-stop shop for consultation and approvals
- A capacity initiative for clinical research
- Funding also for scale-up and production investments
- Output, not funding volume, as a measure of success
“If this is seriously implemented,” Meergans concluded, “the high-tech agenda can truly become a sound investment: both for Germany’s economic strength and for numerous patients with diseases that are still virtually untreatable today.”
Latest PROUD Results
As a compilation of indicators for measuring the quality and performance of Germany as an R&D hub over the medium and long term, PROUD provides updates on 28 indicators. These are supplemented by assessments of the hub by experts and decision-makers.
The key findings:
- Stagnation instead of catching up: Nine indicators have improved and nine have worsened compared to October 2025. Experts’ assessment of overall attractiveness has declined for the second year in a row (from 6.03 to 5.80 to 5.65 on a scale of 0 to 10).
- The translation gap is widening: Although preclinical research output rose slightly (publications +3 percent, patents +0.6 percent), clinical implementation through industry-initiated studies declined (Phase I studies −10 percent, gene and cell therapy studies −39 percent). Germany’s share of global patient recruitment for clinical trials has stagnated at around 3.0 percent.
- Several structural location factors are eroding: Equity investments in the life sciences sector fell by −15 percent. Germany’s attractiveness to talent fell by −4 points to 66. The qualification level of skilled workers is expected to decline from 7.90 to 7.29 (on a scale of 0 to 10).
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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