The debate over how to make pharmaceutical companies treat all European markets fairly is raging. But there’s a second front opening in the industry’s fightback against the European Commission’s pharmaceutical reform: the category of unmet medical need. 

The idea seems innocent enough. It’s an incentive that rewards new drugs for patients with serious diseases who don’t have any other treatments and whose medical needs are, well, unmet. But it’s already provoking strong reactions in some corners, with objections spanning from accusations of more red tape to worries that it will actually stymie innovation.

“Having another step of evaluation [in the drug approval process] would just add complexity, and create unbelievable discussions between member states,” said Christian Deleuze, deputy managing director for innovation at Sanofi, who was speaking at a working group on rare disease drug development organized by POLITICO.

Deleuze and his colleagues in the industry are worried that drugs that don’t fall into […]