BRUSSELS — Leaders of European pharmaceutical companies on Wednesday said that a proposed overhaul of the E.U.’s medicines policies could render the region’s industry less competitive, the latest step in their opposition to legislation that could shorten the exclusivity period they have to sell their drugs.
“A competitive industry will play a key role in a healthier Europe,” Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen said at a press briefing held by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, of which Jørgensen is president. But the proposed legislation from the European Commission “would do the opposite,” Jørgensen added, because it would lead to fewer medications for patients.