Research, from Gsk over 600 million between 2020-2024, two thirds for prevention

Prevention, innovation and planning are the cornerstones of the ‘health of tomorrow’. GSK confirms its commitment to contribute to research and innovation in Italy with an investment of over 600 million euros in the five-year period 2020-2024, of which two thirds are dedicated to prevention. The announcement this afternoon during the meeting “InnovaCtion – what do ideas need to become health, business, future” promoted by GlaxoSmithKline (Gsk) in the Verona office, on the occasion of 90 years of presence in our country. To be exact, it is a question of 617 million euros of investments in research and production in the Italian structures in the five-year period 2020-2024, of which about 300 in the next two years and over 400 of the total destined solely for prevention in the Siena and Rosia sites, in Tuscany. In fact, in recent days in Siena, 19 million euros have been invested in new laboratories to combine research and development even more effectively, both in local and international projects, and in prevention, innovation and programming as cornerstones, in fact, the ‘health of tomorrow’ in Italy, on which to focus the next investments in research and innovation, was discussed during the event attended by, among others Giancarlo Giorgetti, Minister of Economic Development; Fabio Landazabal, president of Ad Gsk Spa; Nicola Magrini, CEO of Aifa, and Damiano Tommasi, mayor of Verona. Among the topics discussed is the need for a universal and sustainable health system where preventable diseases, thanks to vaccination, are systematically stopped even in adults to concentrate the resources destined for treatment and hospitalization on unmet medical needs. And that prevention is good not only for people’s health but also for the state coffers, as evidenced by numerous analyzes and researches. A study by Johns Hopkins University – it emerged from the works – analyzed the effects of investments in prevention on the containment of health care costs: for every dollar spent on vaccines, 16 dollars are saved for medical expenses and 28 dollars for indirect costs related to the productivity of the work, totaling $ 44. Similarly, a recent research by Altems has considered the number of cases of influenza, pneumococcal disease and herpes zoster in the employed Italian population, diseases that can now be prevented thanks to the presence of effective vaccines. The overall annual impact is approximately 1.1 billion euros, of which 185 million relating to the tax part and 915 million to the social security part. The study, based on the ‘Fiscal Impact’ model, considers not only the costs related to the loss of labor productivity, but also the drop in consumption and the reduction in tax revenues, considering, in fact, the transfers of wealth between all In short, investing in prevention is worthwhile but while Italy demonstrates a remarkable organization and effectiveness in vaccinating children and adolescents – the experts underlined – the same cannot be said for adults, who are called to an active role and working well into old age and that, with aging, tend to have greater health needs that the community has to face with significant costs of treatment and hospitalization. According to the Osmed Report of 2021, the total expenditure for vaccines in Italy was equal to 562.5 million euros in 2020 but, analyzing this expenditure, it emerges that for vaccinations for adults – such as the anti-flu, pneumococcus 23 valent and shingles, in total only 108 million euros were spent. A figure that, however, only partially covered the eligible population: in particular, the flu shot for the cohort of over 65s reached 63%, compared to a target of 75%, as indicated in the 2017 National Vaccine Prevention Plan. -2019. While always for the same age group, the 23-valent pneumococcal vaccine reached only 3% against an expected rate of 75%; The data referring to the administration of anti-herpes zoster is also marginal, which concerns only 1% of the target, against a target of 50%. % more (2.4 billion), without considering chronic and immuno-compromised subjects who are strongly recommended for vaccination, but for which the plan does not set coverage targets. The problem is not only to find resources to produce and buy more vaccines, but also to find the regulatory, organizational and regulatory access solutions that allow us to identify adults who can benefit from certain vaccinations and create an easy system for them. that leads them to protect themselves. For this reason, according to experts, the experience gained with anti-Covid mass vaccinations in adults could prove invaluable in creating effective vaccination registries and information campaigns. all and a collaboration on several levels: the departments that define the economic and health policy of the country, the regions called to implement it and the pharmaceutical companies, a source of competitiveness and attractiveness for Italy as well as the supply of goods and services essential for the health. Aware of having to make its own contribution to this challenge, Gsk wanted to organize InnovaCtion, to celebrate 90 years of research, production and export from Italy.