Looking at PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) patent applications and top 10% highly-cited scientific publications in the NACE field of Pharmaceuticals, the European Union lags considerably behind in the world share in comparison with the United States, which might demonstrate the early success of US companies in bringing possible vaccines and treatments to fight COVID-19.

However, over time, the US has been losing world share in both patent applications and highly-cited scientific publications, declining from 46% share in 2000 to 39% in 2016, and from about 50% share in 2000 to 36% in 2016 in each indicator, respectively. 

Conversely, despite the fierce international competition, the EU has been able to maintain its worldwide share, with a slightly decline in PC patent applications of 22% share in 2000 to 19% in 2016, and actually a marginal  increase in the share of highly-cited scientific publications from 22% in 2000 to 23% in 2016.

Source: DG Research and Innovation, Chief Economist - R&I Strategy & Foresight Unit

Data produced by Science-Metrix using data from Scopus Database and PASTAT.