The Spanish city of Barcelona has been identified as the second-best hub on the continent for biotech investment, according to a report from CPHI.
At a country level, meanwhile, the CPHI Annual Report expected Spain would emerge as the sixth country in the world and third in Europe with the greatest “pharma growth potential” by 2024. The report, which said the only city ahead of Barcelona was London, was released alongside the CPHI event currently being held in Barcelona.
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“It is very fitting that, in a year when our event will welcome more than 40,000 executives to Barcelona, Spain has powered ahead in our eponymous pharma rankings – including taking second place in the European Biotech Index,” said Sherma Ellis-Daal, brand director at CPHI Barcelona. “These rapid increases point to excellent growth prospects for Spain in 2024 and for Barcelona to continue its rise as a globally significant biotech and biosciences hub.”
The CPHI report also highlighted Spain’s strong rise in the ranking of ‘growth potential’ for 2024 among the leading pharmaceutical economies. |The country has risen seven places in the latest ranking to reach sixth in the world behind India, the US, China, Germany and Switzerland. At the European level, said the report, Spain is in third place, surpassing the UK, Italy and France and now very close to Switzerland.
Attractive alternative
Furthermore, according to the report, global executives believe Barcelona need only “build further manufacturing resources” and/or offer some “potential inbound investment opportunities” – such as tax breaks or investment programmes – to see a further sizable shift in prospects. Over half (53%) of executives surveyed envisaged implementing these measures would make Catalonia a more attractive alternative to the UK and Switzerland as a home for the European HQ of US pharma companies.
The CPHI annual report is based on a macro-survey of pharmaceutical company executives around the world and its results are widely seen as the key metrics for global pharma prospects in the year ahead.
