According to a study by Crea Sanità, which takes into consideration the case of the Norvatis group, the pharmaceutical industry can become a resource for public finances, guaranteeing savings and investments in research and development at the same time.
Wednesday 16 September 2015 – Regioni.it
Public finance obtained economic returns of almost 300 million euros in 2014 against an expenditure of around 1.3 billion euros, just by looking at the data relating to the relationship with Novartis Italia. Added to this are savings of around 72 million euros (almost 180 million in
last 3 years) for the NHS relating to the company's commitment to clinical trials and over 184 million euros in savings made possible by the offer of equivalent and biosimilar medicines.
These are the most relevant data emerging from the report “A case study on the evaluation of the impacts generated by companies
from a public perspective”, prepared for the CREA Health Study Center by the president Federico Spandonaro, professor of Health Economics at the Tor Vergata University of Rome.
The study reveals the important contribution that the pharmaceutical industry also ensures to public finances, as well as being one of the sectors that guarantees greater investments in research, capable of representing a driving force for development and employment in the country.
The study was presented today in Rome at the Sala Capitolare of the Senate during the conference “Pharmaceuticals: a value for Italy” promoted by CREA Sanita'. The meeting, moderated by journalist Duilio Giammaria, was attended by Georg Schroeckenfuchs, managing director and country president of Novartis Italia, Marco Simoni, economic adviser to Prime Minister Matteo Renzi for the attraction of foreign investments, Fabrizio Pagani, head of the technical secretariat by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Roberto Scrivo, head of the technical secretariat of the Minister of Health, Antonio Gaudioso, general secretary of Cittadinanzattiva, Enrica Giorgetti, general manager of Farmindustria and Emilia Grazia De Biasi, president of the Hygiene and Health Commission at the Senate.
The study examines the financial statements and activities of Novartis Italia in the years 2012-2014 and in particular examines, from an economic and financial point of view, the contribution that industrial activities guarantee to the treasury and to the pharmaceutical expenditure level. the cost avoided for the National Health Service thanks to clinical trials, but also the savings deriving from the possibility of access to equivalent and biosimilar drugs. "The need to contain public expenditure is evident, but cost cutting and reduction "maneuvers" often do not take into account their dynamic effects, overestimating the actual savings obtainable", commented Federico Spandonaro.
"Moreover, in recent years, Healthcare has made a great contribution to recovery and its costs (particularly those of pharmaceuticals) grow significantly less than the average cost of the Public Administration - added the professor - It is therefore worth carefully rethinking the methods intervention, considering their overall effects both in terms of public finance and industrial development”.
(ITALPRESS)
