Farmindustria assembly, golden pills make “Made in Italy” production fly: +176% in 10 years

ROME. Driven by the export of vaccines and anti-Covid drugs, the pharmaceutical industry has also boomed in Italy, reaching 2% of the national GDP, with the prospect of increasing it by another percentage point five years from now, increasing the employment of 20,000 direct and indirect workers. The numbers presented at the annual assembly and by Farmindustria, the sector association, are those that put a smile on pill industrialists: 49 billion euros of production in 2022, of which 47.6 billion in exports, 3.3 billion invested in production and R&D, 68,600 employees, of which women represent 44% of the total. Employment mainly made up of university graduates which has grown by 9% in 5 years, especially among young people (+16%) and women (+13%). A growth trend that starts long ago, given that exports have increased by 176% in 10 years and investments in research and production have grown by 22% in 5 years, so much so that they are now equal to 6.8% of the whole national economy. While over 700 million are invested each year in clinical trials, which allow patients to access innovative therapies, carried out mainly in the structures of the National Health Service. And for 1 euro invested by companies, the benefit for the NHS is equal to 3 euros, according to an Altems study by Cattolica.

But for industrialists there is a need to reverse a trend which for 20 years has seen Europe losing investment shares compared to the USA and China, while competition from emerging countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore is growing, very attractive measures. A race that is worth something with 1,600 billion dollars, which is how much will be invested globally in the next five years for the research and development of new drugs, which are already over 20,000 under development in the world today, an all-time record.

«In global competition – says the President of Farmindustria, Marcello Cattanei – we need more Europe in the world and more Italy in Europe to attract investments, innovation, secure and rebuild strategic supply chains and reduce the dependence of active ingredients and intermediates on abroad. This is why it is more necessary than ever to take urgent action by reviewing the proposal for the revision of European pharmaceutical legislation presented by the EU Commission. Proposal that weakens intellectual property and therefore the competitiveness and quality of care, with risks also for the health of citizens. It reduces patent protection from 8 to 6 years and market exclusivity for orphan drugs from 10 to 9″.

But Cattanei also calls for new rules for the management of spending in Italy “which is fundamental for the attractiveness of investments, put at great risk by now unsustainable levels of payback, projected at 1.5 billion in 2023 and 1.8 in 2024, equal to 15% of the turnover of those who support it». A mechanism, that of the payback, which calls on the industry to make up for the overruns of the expenditure ceilings set by the government and deemed incongruous, both by the pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, who are also subject to the rule of “who exceeds pay”. For this reason, Farmindustria is asking to remodulate the expenditure ceilings on territorial and hospital pharmaceuticals, «by including as early as 2023 drugs with conditional innovation in the innovation fund, to increase resources and standardize the rules for managing expenditure at the regional level, which create differences across the territories ».