Exports are buoyant, but prices and the domestic market are falling. The road to the relaunch of made in Italy medicines has no alternatives: fewer cuts and more investments, with a merciless fight against bureaucracy that drives away the desire of companies to focus on our country. Sergio Dompé, president of Farmindustria, has no doubts: «Targeted investments are needed to support the growth of pharmaceuticals, which everyone now recognizes as one of the strategic sectors of our economy. An acknowledgment that, however, must now pass quickly from words to deeds».
Dompé relaunches the recipe of the drug manufacturers. On his desk, the president of Farmindustria has the Istat tables on price trends and exports in November 2010. On the one hand, the drop in drug prices dropped by 2.1% in one year with inflation reaching +1.5%; on the other, the further growth of pharmaceutical exports which at the end of 2010 will close with an increase of more than 15 percent.
The classic double speed scenario. The differential between inflation and drug prices has reached a new negative peak: since 2001 inflation has risen by 20.5%, with the price lists of medicines which in the meantime have fallen by 26.2 per cent. While exports gather double-digit successes confirming a vocation towards foreign countries which is becoming the assets of companies: in the turnover of the sector, exports represent almost 60% of the total portfolio. But with that boulder of an internal market that has even declined in terms of public since 2001.
The future risks feared by companies are at hand. With an occupation that has lost more than 8,000 workers since 2008 and could lose almost another 3,000 this year. The export that is buoyant thus pays for the losses in the internal market, in a sector that has to deal with generics and with the expiry of fundamental patents, while there is almost no trace of new molecules. «The choice of internationalization made by our companies has been successful. Sign of great ability and vitality of a sector that knows how to look to the future. But we have an asphyxiated internal market: the net revenue from ethical drugs - says Dompé - is the lowest among the large EU countries"
Hence the relaunch for an industrial policy capable of attracting investment and challenging innovation. The Bric quadrilateral (Brazil, Russia, India and China) is now both a model and a fear. "While others encourage settlements, Italy needs more than ever to focus on investments if it really wants to be competitive". Quite a challenge, if we consider that, among other things, it takes up to 5 years to get a settlement off the ground. Biblical times in global competition. Which now the industry is asking to accelerate, using all possible levers. With the cutting of bureaucracy, of course. But aiming strongly in three other directions, Dompé summarizes: «Don't penalize yet with price cuts, help strategic investments by strengthening program contracts with more aggressive incentives, guaranteeing tax incentives for exports». A bet. Maybe not enough, but it can no longer be postponed for businesses.
