Since the 1950s, the cost of developing a new drug has doubled every nine years — Eroom's Law, Moore's Law in reverse. Today it takes 10-15 years and billions of euros to bring a molecule to market. AI promises to close the data loop: combining clinical, genomic, and real-world data to accelerate discovery. But there's a catch: clean, interoperable, accessible data is scarce. The political question is: who controls it?
For Europe, this is a sovereignty issue, not a technical debate. If pharmaceutical data remains locked inside Big Pharma or US/Chinese tech giants, European SMEs and public research stay on the sidelines. Italy has strong players like Menarini, Chiesi, Dompé and dozens of biotech startups. Without a public data infrastructure, they compete with one hand tied behind their backs. The EU AI Act and the Data Governance Act can be either enablers or obstacles — it's all about implementation.
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Our position is clear: health data must be a public infrastructure, not a private asset.
We at Meteora Web deal with business data every day. We've seen how silos kill efficiency — an e-commerce shop that doesn't share data between warehouse, storefront and accounting loses money. In pharma, the stakes are a hundred times higher. Without open standards and EU-funded platforms, AI-driven drug discovery will be a game for the few. Yes, security matters. But it can't be an excuse for inaction. Health data is sensitive — and too valuable to be left in a drawer.
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For our readers — entrepreneurs, developers, policy makers — here's what you can do: demand interoperability from your data providers. Support initiatives like the European Health Data Space. If you run a pharma or biotech SME, start structuring your data with open standards (FHIR, OMOP) today. Don't wait for someone else to do it. The digital gap exists in labs too: those with clean, organized data now will be competitive tomorrow. Those who wait will pay Eroom's Law bill.
