Every day, 200 million people live with allergy, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Europe. For them, advances in science are not abstract achievements, but a passport for better quality of life.
On 17 April 2025, we responded to the European Commission’s call for evidence for a Strategy for European Life Sciences, which includes the health and environment sectors. The Strategy is part of the European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen’s political priorities for 2025-2029, and its pursue of competitiveness.
Life sciences are the engine behind innovations that touch every part of people’s lives: health, food, agriculture and the environment. In our response, we advocate for a health-in-all-policies approach, particularly applied to research, to address unmet medical needs and improve the quality of life for people in Europe.
Putting patients’ need at the core of life sciences and research
To truly transform life sciences, research must prioritise improving the difficult realities patients live every day. In our response to the strategy, we call for greater investment in emerging research areas critical to people living with allergy and airways diseases, from advancing precision medicine that delivers personalised treatments to strengthening digital health solutions that empower people with airways diseases to manage their conditions independently and with confidence.
Children and young people deserve special attention. Expanding paediatric research is vital to address their unique needs, ensuring better treatments today and smoother transitions into healthy adulthood.
We also advocate for medical research that addresses sex inequalities, to ensure that diagnosis and treatment strategies are effective for everyone.
Promoting life-course immunisation and supporting real-life observational studies are equally crucial steps to preventing disease and ensuring that scientific innovation translates into real improvements in patients’ lives.
Building stronger healthcare systems in Europe
Scientific breakthroughs can only reach patients if healthcare systems are equipped to apply them. Strengthening healthcare systems must go hand in hand with research investment: by enhancing understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying lung diseases, by developing methods for early identification of at-risk COPD patients, including non-smokers, and by embedding multidisciplinary care as the standard for managing complex inflammatory diseases, like allergy, asthma and COPD.
A strong healthcare system must also accompany patients across their entire journey. That is why we encourage more life science research to ensuring smooth transitions from paediatric to adult care. There are healthcare management areas that require cost analysis and patient reported outcomes, so that living with chronic respiratory conditions continue to receive the support they need, without interruption, at every stage of life.
Next steps for a life sciences strategy that works for patients
Patients must be active partners in shaping life sciences, not just beneficiaries of its results. EFA calls for meaningful patient involvement in research agenda setting, ethics and advisory boards and transparent communication on how patient input shapes outcomes. Investment in capacity-building and training for both patients and researchers is a must when for relevant and impactful innovation.
EFA thanks the European Commission for the opportunity to contribute to the EU Life Sciences Strategy and remains committed to advocating for the priorities of allergy and airways disease patients in Europe.
See EFA’s contribution to the call for evidence here.
The feedback period for the call for evidence closed on 17 April. The European Commission is set to adopt the Strategy during the last quarter of 2025.