Absolutely not, according to the authors of the book published by I-Com and presented today in Rome. The pharmaceutical sector is worth 1.5% of GDP, over 4% of exports, 6.5% of R&D, over 50% of added value and exports of all Italian high-tech products. This is why we need to stop divestment.
18 DEC – What would happen to the Italian economy if the pharmaceutical industry suddenly chose to leave Italy? This far from rhetorical question is the starting point for the book by I-Com (Institute for Competitiveness) presented today in Rome, entitled "Why Italy cannot do without the pharmaceutical industry". The data illustrated in the volume edited by Stephen of Empoli And Davide Integlia and edited by Rubbettino, document how the pharmaceutical industry is the most internationalized of all production sectors both in terms of its propensity to export and its ability to attract foreign capital.
First of all, according to I-Com calculations, between direct and indirect contributions, Italy without this sector would immediately lose 1.5% of GDP, almost 300,000 jobs, more than 5 billion in tax revenues a year. But what would be missing could be much more, in a dynamic perspective.
As can be seen from the volume, in the last 5 years our country has climbed various positions in Europe for the production of drugs, going from fourth to second place, behind Germany, thus proving to be a sector with strong growth potential. Mostly driven by exports, of which it constitutes more than 4% of the total amount. Even more decisive, however, is the contribution to research and development, equal to 6.5% of the national total. But the figure, unknown to most, which surprises the most is the role of the pharmaceutical industry with respect to the high-tech sector, of which it represents 52.1% of added value and 54.3% of exports. In fact, as reported by the authors of the text, without pharmaceuticals there would not be a high-tech manufacturing sector in Italy worthy of the name.
Furthermore, the analysis shows that there would be room for further positive performances. Suffice it to say that if the sector were to increase the intensity of R&D spending, aligning it with the European average (today it is on average lower in comparison with other countries), in addition to the direct effects
