Pino Migliono
FLORENCE
«I'm offended, offended… forgive me if I raise my voice. It is an insult to treat an industry that employs 65,000 people and that exports 61% of its production like a piece of shit». To indignant Lucia Aleotti (in the picture), vice president of Farmindustria and the giant Menarini, is the third decree since January on drugs to be launched by the government.
Confused technicians?
«Confused is not enough. They act at night, they don't listen to us. They issue decrees and there is no urgency».
What is the latter for?
«To further reduce the prices of drugs, to even more restrictive rules on reimbursements. The second decree was from twenty days ago. So companies can't plan: it's chaos».
The government has to raise cash, it doesn't know where to turn anymore...
“We have already given. Half of the spending review, one and a half billion, is from savings on drugs. This kills an industry that is second in Europe only to Germany, a sector that has attracted multinationals, which are also quick to pack up».
Isn't that too gloomy a picture?
“It's worse than dark. The multinationals do not decide to invest for a few pennies of tax credit to those who do research. They look at the hospitality with which they are welcomed by a country, at the seriousness. Menarini is a multinational: today we wouldn't build new factories in Italy, we would go abroad».
Because the government treats pharmaceuticals like this, even taxi drivers have powerful lobbies…
«In conversation, Minister Passera defines us as a strategic sector. And we are: we employ six thousand brains in our laboratories, we reach 200 thousand employees in related industries. We have extraordinary small companies, they do research, they innovate. The suspicion is that there is an anti-industrial sentiment in the government».
Bold thesis.
«Do we want to remember how they destroyed chemistry in Italy? And now we are buying plastic from all over the world. Chemistry was not fashionable, it was said that it polluted. How many thousands of jobs have we lost? Pharmaceuticals run the same risk with the obligation to indicate generics on recipes».
But the state saves.
"Not at all. The state pays for branded medicines at the price of generics. And in any case, the state expenditure for drugs is fixed every year. If it is exceeded, companies are not paid for the excess amount. Generics are made in emerging countries at rock bottom prices. This is how Italian companies sink. And in any case it is an illiberal measure ».
Illiberal?
«Of course, the patient is led to choose the generic drug even if he is willing to spend more to get the branded drug. It's like being forced to buy only one type of pasta at the supermarket…».
Would single-serve packages cut waste?
“Let's discuss it. Even if for the single-servings the production lines would have to change and therefore raise the prices: the savings would go down the drain».
