On 10 December 2008, the second session of the Permanent Table for the pharmaceutical sector was held, set up on 18 November at the Ministry of Economic Development.
The aim of the Roundtable is to evaluate, in a rapidly changing international scenario, the situation of the sector from an economic and productive point of view, with particular attention to the effects on employment, and to define active policies for the relaunch of the sector.
The meeting, chaired by the Head of the Ministry's Competitiveness Department, Ing. Goti, was attended by the President of Farmindustria Dr. Dompé, accompanied by the General Manager, Dr. Giorgetti and Messrs. Cavazza, Lapeyre, Marini, Roman Pumar, Stefanelli, Fregonese, Riccini, Ruozzi and Svetoni. Also present were the representatives of the national secretariats of FILCEM CGIL, FEMCA CISL and UILCEM. Dr. Soncini for Assogenerici attended the meeting.
It was noted that the pharmaceutical sector is experiencing a phase of strong transformation of organizational models worldwide, with significant negative implications on employment levels in Italy as well. To support the development of the sector and the relaunch of research, it is necessary to protect the brand and the intellectual property that allow investments to be remunerated and exports to be strengthened. The need to avoid, at national and regional level, measures harmful to the value of the patent and trademark or distorting competition were therefore recalled by Farmindustria and the trade union organisations.
The Ministry of Economic Development shares the importance of enhancing and protecting intellectual property, and this is confirmed by the recent proposal for a decree for the economic use of industrial property titles for access to risk capital.
Farmindustria expressed positive appreciation for the initiative and underlined the need for it to be followed by coherent measures, at national and regional level, to protect the brand and intellectual property.
It was therefore agreed that the objective of the next meeting will be the recognition of the national and regional provisions that affect the protection of patents and trademarks and the definition of possible guidelines.
The meeting then continued with the presentation by Doctor Claudio Cavazza, project manager of the “Industry 2015 – New technologies of life” project, of the main points of the project, its state of progress and the reasons that led him to direct its objectives towards rare and neglected diseases: on the one hand the limited resources available compared to those invested by companies in the sector in R&D, on the other the consequent need to concentrate on targeted projects in which Italy is in a position of international competitiveness, capable of generating wider applications of the specific sector result.
It was therefore highlighted how, among the phases of the project, there is the definition of the Connected Actions, which will shortly be discussed by the Regions. Among these, as a possible example, the creation of a Translational Center to link public and private R&D is cited. The theme of Connected Actions, as an important contribution, also in terms of funding, to the development of the sector will therefore be the subject of further study during the next meetings of the Table.
For their part, the trade union organizations recalled the importance of a structural connection between all the tables that see the presence of national or regional institutions
