Renzi apre ai big del farmaco

For the first time an Italian prime minister meets a group of world CEOs in the same sector, he must be acknowledged. For us this is a very positive sign and also a demonstration of trust in our country», commented Scaccabarozzi

Roberto Turno – 07 October 2014 – ^{The sun}24 HOURS

ROME

Put ten world CEOs of Big Pharma at Palazzo Chgi and a prime minister who invites them to bet (and invest) on Italy. And suppose Big Pharma responds: we are already doing it, even beyond the promises made, «we are ready to lend a hand again». Technical tests of harmony between the Government and the pharmaceutical industries yesterday in Rome. With a surprise meeting between Matteo Renzi and international drug companies, including some Italian ones such as Menarini and Chiesi, which already have a base and strength in Italy. A meeting that follows the one that took place in Bari in recent months, when the prime minister explicitly endorsed the pharmaceutical industry for the first time, defining it as strategic for development and inviting it to consolidate and expand its presence in our country.

Well, a few months later, the president of Farmindustria, Massimo Scaccabarozzi, presented Renzi with the first results of the promise made in Bari: he had announced 2,000 jobs by 2015, Scaccabarozzi. Instead, the goal is already today at 1,600 new employees under 30, which will become 2,000 in June next year. As if to say that at the end of 2015 there could be much more, even excluding the 5,000 total new entries (not only under 30 and also due to the turnover with pensioners) foreseeable at the end of 2015.

«I am happily surprised that I made a mistake in the predictions – commented the president of Farmindistria -. This country can grow again, only in this way can it emerge from the crisis. I saw great determination in the prime minister and we are ready to do our part. We have what it takes to help the country." Renzi's invitations to industries to "invest in Italy, for you it's an opportunity, the country is changing," the prime minister would have commented remain on the table. As entirely on the table, the requests raised by the pharmaceutical companies to the Government remain: regulatory stability and certainty of rules, a strong and solid regulatory system, bureaucratic streamlining, a reform of the Aifa (Medicine Agency) which makes it efficient, which accelerates access of products to markets and inspections.

In short, a new Italian perspective for the drug. Which for Big Pharma is almost a precondition for continuing to bet on Italy, or even for getting there from scratch. Maybe. What is certain is that the presence at Palazzo Chigi of the CEOs of Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck Serono, Novartis and Roche, together with two well-rooted Italian women abroad, was not an event second floor. «For the first time an Italian prime minister is meeting a group of world CEOs in the same sector, he must be acknowledged. For us this is a very positive sign and also a demonstration of trust in our country», commented Scaccabarozzi. Now, it is clear, the facts are awaited from the Government. Who knows if already with the next stability law. The presence of other ministers alongside Renzi – from Pier Carlo Padoan (Economy) to Beatrice Lorenzin (Health) up to Federica Guidi (Development) – is certainly one more sign of attention towards industries. The 2015 maneuver could be proof of the truth.