BERGAMO - The pharmaceutical chain risks losing not 7,000 but 15,000 jobs made up of qualified personnel, all graduates, not only informants but also scientists and researchers who will necessarily go abroad.
The brain drain from Italy is set to grow alarmingly. Research is no longer done, it costs too much, and drugs that have lost their patent after 20 years can be copied and produced by any company that requests it, demonstrating the bioequivalence of the product to Aifa.
Yes, because generic drugs, or equivalent if you prefer, are a copy of the designer drug containing the same dosage of the pharmacologically active ingredient. In one thing they differ: they cost much less to the National Health Service and to the citizen.
As a pharmacy owner I should complain because the profit has been significantly reduced, but responsibly I believe that this is a moment in which we all have to put ourselves in the perspective of sacrifice. The blanket is getting shorter and the only way to guarantee health care for everyone is through savings.
In Europe, our country is lagging behind in terms of the use of generic drugs, and I believe we will continue to be so if we don't change the culture. Nothing has changed, despite the latest Balduzzi decree: doctors and citizens remain skeptical about the use of generics. As for the pharmacists, despite having a specific preparation in pharmacology, they are still tied to the branded drug (brand name or generic) without any possibility of expressing their professional assessment.
Patrizia Siliprandi – 12 October 2012 – Bergamo Evening.com
