Pharmaceuticals, Abruzzo sprint with the leap in exports and research
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The pharmaceutical industry in Abruzzo runs with its 3,000 employees (1,300 direct and over 1,600 in related industries) and with exports soaring to 800 million in 2022, a value that has almost tripled (+172%) in the space of five years, with the district of L’Aquila that drives this race (+58% in one year) projecting itself among the top four provinces in Italy for export growth. With the Abruzzese who for productivity in medicines beat the Germans, as well as the French and Spanish: a record that has its roots in a territory that boasts a ten-year tradition in pharmaceutical manufacturing with its factories that produce and export billions of blockbuster capsules and tablets, but also innovative biotech drugs such as the one that uses the so-called “Montalcini protein” (the NGF for which Rita Levi Montalcini won the Nobel).
Rebirth after the earthquake
“What makes the difference is the quality of the people from Abruzzo, who are able to get back up after the earthquake which here caused significant damage for 10 million euros”, recalls Sergio Dompé, president of Dompé farmaceutici, who hosted the avant-garde of L’Aquila – which produces for the whole world, bringing the latest innovative therapies to the USA – a new stop on the Farmindustria road show to discover the manufacturing gems of the Italian drug.
Abruzzo therefore consolidates its position of excellence in medicines, among the first Regions in Italy, thanks to the productivity of its resources – against an employment equal to 1.6% the added value is 6.1% – and investments, among which those in research stand out: around 60 million euros in R&D, a figure that represents over 20% of the total amount invested by companies in the region, demonstrating that not only production is done but new therapies are being studied and innovation is also achieved thanks to the presence and effective partnership with universities, starting with the University of L’Aquila.
Production at 49 billion
The pharmaceutical presence is concentrated in particular between L’Aquila and Pescara and, as happens in other Regions, “this mix of international Italian companies, multinationals, small businesses that want to grow and subcontractors that supply the whole world is a winning one”, he says Lucia Aleotti Vice President of Farmindustria and Menarini shareholder. A mix that in Italy brought production to 49 billion in 2022 with 47.6 billion in exports (+43 percent) and which in Abruzzo sees the presence of the factories of important companies such as Alfasigma, Dompé, Menarini and Sanofi. The first located in Alanno will celebrate 50 years in 2024 and has recently been expanded, also receiving the OK from Aifa for the production of immunological products such as increasingly important vaccines. Dompé, on the other hand, is just now celebrating the 30th anniversary of its plant in L’Aquila, the only one for the production where more “traditional” medicines are made and above all biotech products recognized as “breakthrough innovation” by the American FDA, such as the Ngf protein (Nerve growth factor) which regenerates the nerves of the eye. Next to Dompé is the third largest site of the Menarini group: here 73 million packs are produced every year for 1.6 billion tablets and capsules that reach 60 countries. Finally, the multinational Sanofi with its Scoppito plant for the production and packaging of solid oral drugs on a large scale (3.3 billion capsules a year for 124 million packages, 50% for export) where also research and development, in particular of four new molecules (immunology, rare diseases, transplants and ALS).
1,600 billion of investments
«The challenges today with 1,600 billion dollars of investments in research between now and 2028 are beautiful and big, but either we understand this innovation and equip ourselves to manage it or we will be behind in chasing it», explained the president of Farmindustria Marcello Cattani. Which underlines how we need «new rules and a cultural change on health which is not a cost to be reduced: we need new governance and for this we ask for an immediate signal on the payback and then its overcoming. However, this Government has shown attention to the sector also in Europe where it has defended our reasons on the new package of regulations for medicines”. For University and Research Minister Anna Maria Bernini, a boost will come from the Pnrr, which provides 11 billion for research: « It will be the prerequisite for giving a booster of growth and innovation not only to our universities but also to our businesses, which now go hand in hand. Finally, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, Fausta Bergamotto recalled the table on the pharmaceutical chain that had just started «born to redesign an industrial policy because pharmaceuticals is a strategic sector for the country».
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