View from the Field: Medicines for Europe ‘26

Research evidence excerpt

View from the Field: Medicines for Europe ‘26

EUROPE | Specialty Pharmaceuticals EquityJuneResearch18, 2026

View from the Field: Medicines for Europe '26

We attended Medicines For Europe. KTs: 1) Policy, talent & incentives

now determine where pharma manufacturing lands; 2) Unsustainable

pricing is forcing structural policy reform to secure EU generics supply; 3)

Availability is becoming the binding constraint, with resilience spend now

structurally embedded in generics economics; 4) Environmental regulation

risks accelerating exits unless the cost burden is reallocated.

1) Policy, talent & incentives now determine where pharma manufacturing lands: Investment

in generics manufacturing is shifting from cost-led decisions to optimisation of subsidies,

workforce quality, regulatory frameworks & resilience. Financial incentives remain central but

are increasingly complemented by active industrial policy to direct capital. Talent availability &

labour flexibility are becoming binding constraints, favouring markets with strong vocational

systems. Combined with intensifying competition, this points to sustained policy escalation &

a more fragmented, strategically positioned global footprint.

2) Unsustainable pricing is forcing structural policy reform to secure EU generics supply.

Off-patent pharma is shifting from a low-cost optimisation story to a strategic resilience

problem, with pricing & procurement increasingly incompatible with secure supply. Thin

margins leave manufacturers highly exposed to tariffs, logistics disruption & input cost

inflation, amplifying risks to patient access & continuity of care. Policy is responding with a

more interventionist model—combining targeted industrial policy (e.g. Critical Medicines Act),