08 FEB – "Italian patients must have the right medicines available for their pathologies and, from this point of view, it is important that new products are made available as soon as possible, thus bringing Italy ever closer to other countries in terms of access to innovation, certainty of timing and evaluation mechanisms”. This is the request of the president of Farmindustria, Massimo Scaccabarozzi, who spoke this morning in Rome during the conference "Medicines. Right to speak", organized by Aifa.
"The fruits of pharmaceutical research are tangible in the improvements in the quality of life – he said – for this reason pharmaceutical innovation is an objective of quality, efficiency of the NHS and competitiveness of the country. It is therefore important to invest resources in line with other European countries and adapted to the real health demand to make access to new medicines even better".
"The drug companies, which work for the appropriateness of consumption and contribute to containing expenditure, are asking for stable and certain rules and a context favorable to investment and research - concluded Scaccabarozzi - access to innovation, protection of intellectual property and recognition of the value of the brand must be seen as an integrated process to protect the health of citizens and industrial growth".
Commenting on the sidelines of the conference the 8% drop in pharmaceuticals recorded by Istat, Scaccabarozzi then affirmed that it is a figure "that we have foreseen, we have been saying for months. I have always maintained that our threats were not, but that they would have been consequences. Now comes the confirmation from Istat". "There is – continued Scaccabarozzi – a strong contraction in domestic demand, production is decreasing sharply. There are still some positive data due to exports, but I make another forecast: soon exports will no longer compensate for the decline of domestic demand". "I hope – he concluded – that there is the will to consider this a strategic sector, in this moment of the electoral campaign we are talking about growth, our sector can represent a driving force".
February 08, 2013 –