“By 2026, investments of 1,500 billion dollars in Research & Development”

Pharma investments in R&D around the world are steadily increasing, with a growth of 25% between 2020-2026. Italy, which holds a leadership with France and Germany in the field of pharmaceutical production, can contribute to attracting an important share of these investments in R&D, increasing the 1.62 billion euros invested in 2020, which already represents 13% of the total of the Italian manufacturing industry. Investments in pharma generate important repercussions: in fact the ratio between resources invested by companies and total economic value generated is 1 to 3. These are some of the data that emerged today at the second meeting organized by The European House – Ambrosetti, with the support of the Italian American Pharmaceutical Group (Iapg) and of the European and Japanese Group of Farmindustria (EUNIpharma). Title of the digital event ‘Innovation in healthcare as a driving force for the country’s economic and social recovery’. “Every day – highlighted Fabrizio Greco, Iapg president – we are called to compete with our counterparts in other countries to attract new investments in Italy. Between 2020 and 2026 the pharmaceutical sector has invested and will invest around 1,500 billion dollars in R&D. . Italy can and must participate in this competition, improving its attractiveness and promoting research and patent protection. A fertile ground for innovation must be created and multinational companies are a key player in a system driven by both innovation and in research and production “. The meeting discussed how to promote innovation and which economic, industrial and health policies can increase the attractiveness of our country for foreign investments in the pharmaceutical sector. For Greco “the experience of Covid-19 shows us that the availability of more drugs and vaccines allows us to choose the most suitable and safest therapies for each patient. The concept of ‘one size fits all’ is far from the needs of people and it takes us away from the possibility of researching and developing new therapeutic opportunities that will be more and more personalized. From this point of view, the legislation on therapeutic equivalence is in contrast with this evolution and needs to be rethought “. We today “find ourselves in an absolutely unbalanced situation – reported Greco – We are faced with a chronic underfunding which, since 2013, amounts to about 1.8 billion euros on average per year. This involves an important lack of resources that has required the use of tools to recover them. However, using a tool in a forced and inappropriate way involves side effects. The side effect for therapeutic equivalence is that of eliminating a series of therapeutic solutions for patients, healthcare professionals and public opinion, but also to limit the development of ideas. If we think of the Covid context we are living in, it is not difficult to imagine that we probably would not have had 4 Covid-19 vaccines, but we would have only seen the vaccine that was cheaper. Moreover, we would not have had 4 vaccines against Covid-19. could understand that there were others or what were the differences between them. We cannot imagine bringing innovation by decree. i develops in a free context where ideas are fluid and are improved, for this we need resources “.