(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 9 - The pharmaceutical company sector is going through a phase of suffering, it is holding on thanks to exports, which have seen extraordinary growth in recent years (+450% in 20 years), and is having to counter a worrying drop in employment, considering that "in the last 3 years 8,000 jobs have evaporated", equivalent to 12% of the workforce present in the area, and that estimates indicate "an equally substantial loss in the next three years". In all, therefore, 16,000 jobs are disappearing. It is the photograph, full of shadows, of one of the most important industrial sectors of our country taken by the president of Farmindustria, Sergio Dompe', who in an interview with the ANSA agency tries to take stock of the situation of the sector and the prospects futures. For companies there remains "a serious production problem linked to the reimbursement levels, which are the lowest", explained Dompe', adding that this situation has inevitably created repercussions on employment levels. In fact, if the forecasts were confirmed, in 6 years (the previous 3 plus the next 3) there would be an overall fall in employment of 24%, or almost 1/4 of the workforce. For this reason, the president of Farmindustria is asking the institutions for "a sign of discontinuity", to avoid that "the pharmaceutical supply chain is always penalised". Speaking then of the overall balance sheet of pharmaceutical companies for 2010, Dompe', without going into detail, anticipates that the balance sheet of companies "is improving but only thanks to exports, which have increased in 20 years by almost 450%, going from 13 to 57%". In essence, this is the thesis of the president of Farmindustria, "we manage to govern the system thanks to exports, while the Italian part shows negative indices, as always in recent periods". And the forecasts for these first months of 2011, clarifies, they don't seem to change the current development curve.Yet there was also good news for companies, such as the one that arrived in recent days from Palazzo Chigi and which concerns the approval by the Council of Ministers of incentives for research, through new tax credit mechanisms."If confirmed and financed, the tax credit represents important news for the pharmaceutical sector and for its competitiveness", comments Dompe', who also clarifies the contents of the operation: "The universities and public research centers will be able to have a tax credit of 90%, divided over 3 years, therefore of 30% per year, as a tax premium for those who activate new contracts". According to the president of Farmindustria, this maneuver will lead to "new employment contracts for 200 million euros, over 2 years, all spent on research in Italy". An important contribution, therefore, concludes Dompe', from which "not only pharmaceutical companies, but also universities will benefit, because" the new contracts will tend to remunerate merit and therefore it will be the most virtuous and competitive institutes that will obtain the greatest funding ". (HANDLE).
