Verona. «The government intends to intervene» on the question of the closure of the Glaxo research center in Verona «without being able to guarantee anything but by seeking local solutions and not in order not to disperse this heritage created over the years». Health Minister Ferruccio Fazio said so. And Mayor Tosi met with the top management of the company, managing to glimpse some glimmers.
Meanwhile, a Milanese company of natural and biological medicines, Guna, has said it is ready to hire researchers who should be fired from the Verona pharmaceutical company. However, Guna spa, the Italian leader in «natural pharma» – it is written in a note – is also asking for the help of the Government so that it can finally apply the new European directive on medicines and allow the opening of new product lines.
The trade unions. Meanwhile, the unions are on the alert. The dismantling should take place by the end of the year and this will lead to the loss of work for 550 researchers. For Carla Pellegatta, CGIL secretary of Verona "With the announcement of Glaxo the economic and employment situation of our territory takes on very heavy connotations". The trade unionist points the finger at "the de-industrialization process that has been underway in our province for years" and which "must be stopped". According to Cisl secretary Massimo Castellani, "we need an industrial, national, regional and local project".
Tosi. And on the Glaxo case, the mayor of Verona, Tosi, met the managing director, Luc Debruyne, yesterday to start a solution. «Some alternatives to the closure of the research center are possible, the company is willing to evaluate various hypotheses». The mayor said this at the end of the face-to-face meeting held yesterday morning at Palazzo Barbieri with the top management of Glaxo-SmithKline. The meeting in the mayor's office was attended by the regional health councilor Sandro Sandri, the president and CEO of GSK, Luc Debruyne and the vice president for institutional affairs, communication and vaccines, Daniele Finocchiaro. It was Tosi himself who requested the meeting immediately after the news of the closure, scheduled for the end of the year, of the structure which employs 550 workers had spread.
Minister Fabio. Meanwhile, from Rome, the Minister of Health Ferruccio Fazio let it be known that "the government intends to intervene, without being able to guarantee anything", he underlines, "but looking for solutions, local and otherwise, in order not to waste this heritage created over the years. That of Glaxo», says the minister, «is a story that has left us with a bitter taste but as I have already told the company managers there is my personal attention and that of the entire government as well as the availability of the minister Sacconi to intervene, if necessary, on the labor dispute to seek solutions". And the first meeting between the Government and Glaxo in Rome could take place, but it has to be confirmed, as early as next Monday. At the end of the interview, the executives of the multinational limited themselves to
