This week, as negotiations on the EU’s next Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10) gain momentum, Global Health Advocates, alongside a powerful coalition of 53 civil society organisations such as Médecins Sans Frontières, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), Health Action International (HAI) and Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung (DSW), sent an open letter to the ITRE Committee of the European Parliament.
While public resources frequently play a critical role in early-stage biomedical discovery, public authorities routinely find themselves with zero leverage over the final product’s price, supply, or market availability once it hits the market. This structural flaw leaves healthcare systems absorbing unsustainable budgetary pressures to buy back technologies they initially helped de-risk.
As the EU shapes the legislative framework that will govern billions of euros in public research funding, we urge MEPs to support the introduction of mandatory Access Plans for strategic health R&D projects.
To ensure that Europe’s next research cycle prioritizes public value over unchecked commercial monopolies, our coalition urges the Parliament to anchoring FP10 around three core pillars:
- Guaranteeing a Public Return on Public Investment: If taxpayers assume a significant share of the financial risk in early-stage biomedical R&D, the societal return must be contractually protected. Innovation loops must close with affordable, real-world patient access.
- Safeguarding Health Sovereignty and Resilience: Implementing access provisions ensures that EU-funded research outputs remain bound to public interest conditions, preventing critical innovations from being monopolized or restricted by foreign trade and industrial policies upon technology transfer.
- Aligning R&D with Global Health Commitments: Bringing FP10 into coherence with the EU Global Health Strategy, the Sustainable Development Goals, and emerging normative frameworks like the WHO Pandemic Agreement.
FP10 represents a historic policy window to move away from a blind funding model and toward a socially responsible innovation ecosystem. We call on the ITRE Committee to put public health and fiscal accountability at the center of their upcoming decisions.
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