The European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP), together with people with lived experiences, learned societies, and other stakeholders, today announced the advance press launch of the European Coalition for Mental Health Medicines Innovation (EU-MIC), a major multi-stakeholder initiative designed to address Europe’s growing psychiatric innovation gap and ensure that patients gain equitable access to innovative, effective and safe treatment. EU-MIC will be officially launched to the mental health community at the ECNP congress on Saturday 10
th October. Please see press conference details (for Fri 9
th Oct at 11.00 CEST) below.
Europe is facing a mental-health crisis with huge impact on every societal level. One in six Europeans lives with a severe mental health condition, and one in three receives no adequate treatment.
1 Every year, 50,000 Europeans die by suicide, now the leading cause of death among young people aged 15-29.
1 The economic burden exceeds € 600 billion annually, or 4% of EU GDP.
2
Yet at the same time, Europe is falling dramatically behind global innovation. In the past 10 years (2016-2025), the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved 38 new psychiatric medications in seven indications, while the Europe Medicine Agency (EMA) approved only 11. Of those, Europe’s five largest markets (DE, FR, ES, IT, NL) reimbursed just three.
3 Several breakthrough therapies — including entirely new mechanisms of action — were never even submitted to EMA at all.
“Europe has built a system that punishes innovation — and patients are paying the price,” said ECNP President Andreas Reif. “We cannot accept a future where Europeans with severe mental illness are denied effective treatments, that are even better tolerated than older ones, available elsewhere.”
Adding from a lived experience perspective, Sven Ganter, living with recurrent depression for more than two decades and a Board Member of the Frankfurt Alliance Against Depression, said “Depression treatment cannot remain a game of trial and error. Patients can lose months to treatment changes, side effects and waiting for something to work. And treatment must aim for real recovery, not just lower symptom scores. We need better, more personalised treatments that help people get their lives back.”
A system that potentially blocks innovation
EU-MIC highlights three structural barriers driving Europe’s decline:
- Regulatory rigidity: EMA requires longer studies and relies on outdated efficacy outcome measures that undervalue patient-relevant outcomes such as tolerability, functioning, quality of life and long-term recovery.
- HTA (health technology assessment) discrimination: Major European HTA bodies demand head-to-head trials that are inappropriate for heterogeneous psychiatric disorders, while undervaluing safety, tolerability and real-world outcomes.
- Novelty not acknowledged: novel mechanisms of action (MoA) are not considered at all, a significant problem given the heterogeneity of mental disorders.
- Disincentivising pricing incentives: Europe’s low price anchor and the United States’ “Most Favoured Nation” rule make launching new psychiatric medicines in Europe economically unattractive.
These barriers have already prevented promising therapies — including drugs with new modes of action to treat schizophrenia and major depressive disorder (MDD) — from reaching European patients.
EU-MIC: a three-year plan to reverse the trend
EU-MIC brings together a broad range of European and national scientific associations and medical societies, patient and family organisations, and industry partners to deliver a coordinated, evidence-driven response. Over three years, the coalition will:
- Identify the barriers that block new treatments in Europe’s approval and reimbursement systems.
- Produce new data showing the true cost of untreated mental illness and the value of modern therapies.
- Explain and demonstrate how mental health is treated unfairly compared to somatic health, including the discounting of mental disorders and equity/equality challenges.
- Push for policy change by engaging regulators, payers, health technology assessment bodies, clinicians, and policymakers.
- Support real-world adoption of new treatments through clinician and patient education.
- Prepare Europe for next-generation therapies such as precision psychiatry.
“EU-MIC is not just a project — it is a wake-up call,” said EPA President Elect Celso Arango.
“Europe cannot continue sleepwalking into a psychiatric innovation blackout.”
Call for participation
ECNP invites organisations committed to improving mental-health treatment in Europe to join EU-MIC as Partners, Supporters, or Advocates. Members will contribute to shaping the initiative’s strategy, data generation, and advocacy efforts.
Journalists are invited to participate in a press conference for the advance press launch of EU-MIC. This will take place on Friday 9th October at 11.00 CEST. Please register at this URL: https://tinyurl.com/ks3vcp6r