Being patient: what delays access to new drugs in Europe?
On average, the first citizen to access a new drug in Belgium will wait 13 months longer for it than someone prescribed the same drug in Germany or the UK, despite an EU-wide licensing process. This suggests that country-specific drug regulation—the ‘fourth hurdle’ faced by drug manufacturers—may go a long way to explaining launch delay across Europe.
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On 21 January 2026 the European Commission published the long-awaited draft of its Digital Networks Act (DNA)—the proposed new regulation that seeks to ‘modernise, simplify and harmonise EU rules on connectivity networks’.1 As the draft is now being reviewed by the European Parliament and the Council, representing the… Read More
Oxera AI Policy Map – January 2026
For this third edition of the AI Policy Map,1 we have updated our database that tracks key national and supranational AI policy developments across the European Economic Area (EEA) and the UK. This curated collection brings together legal texts, strategy documents and other influential publications relevant to the… Read More