The biopharmaceutical sector has generated almost a fifth more direct jobs in five years, according to figures from Pharma.be, the umbrella organization of around 130 innovative pharmaceutical companies active in Belgium. However, the sector’s exports fell compared to 2022, due to the lower number of corona vaccines exported.
In the annual report called ‘Pharma Figures’, the umbrella organization provides an overview of the economic footprint of the sector in 2023. The sector directly employed 44,958 people last year, an increase of more than 1,400 jobs in twelve months and more than 7,000 in five years time.
Exports of biopharmaceutical products were worth 78 billion euros in 2023, a decrease of 21.3 billion in one year. If these export figures do not include COVID-19 vaccines, whose exports fell sharply in 2023, the figure increases by 0.6 billion. “The sector contributes 56 percent to Belgium’s trade surplus, by far the largest share of all sectors,” Pharma.be boasts.
The federation is also pleased that the added value has doubled in five years to 13.4 billion last year. The biopharmaceutical industry has been the “leading sector for added value since 2019”, it said.
Given these figures, “it is crucial that the next federal and regional governments pay structural attention to the impact of policy measures on the competitive position and strength of the Belgian biopharmaceutical industry,” says Caroline Ven, CEO of Pharma.be in the run-up to the elections.
In particular, she advocates an attractive fiscal framework, support for research and development, protection and recognition of intellectual property rights and rapid access for patients to new innovative treatments.
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