The second 'Future by Quality' forum at the Zambon factory in Vicenza
Today our country is second in the European Union for value and trend of the pharmaceutical industry only after Germany. And the short-medium term forecasts are positive: one study conducted by AT Kearney, in which 22 drug and vaccine production plants of 18 pharmaceutical companies participated, indicates investments for these sites in the three-year period 2015-2017, up by 42% compared to the three-year period 2012-2014. The survey was presented at the Forum by Renato Ridella, partner of AT Kearney, at the second Forum Future by Quality Quality pharmaceutical productions: value and innovation, organized by the Zoé Foundation – Zambon Open Education, which took place in the group's Health&Quality Factory Zambon in Vicenza. In particular, investments in new products and technologies represent a quarter of the total and are expected to grow by 46% in 2015-2017 compared to the previous three-year period. Although the panel is not statistically representative of the Italian manufacturing universe, its size – equal to 28% of the Italian pharmaceutical manufacturing sector in terms of employees and 13% in terms of investments – and its composition offer significant conclusions.
"Despite the difficulties, our country maintains a great ability to attract, maintain and develop a strong manufacturing presence - explained Elena Zambon, president of the Zoé Foundation - however, it is not enough to be among the leading countries, we need to improve the ability to attract further investments . The future of pharmaceutical production is played out in the renewal of factories and in quality. In this sense, politics should also take responsibility for strategic choices that recognize the right value of this industrial sector". “As an entrepreneur – he added – I believe there is still a lot to do in improving the ability to 'network', intensify relations between industry and the Italian regulatory agency to create a parallel and shared path.
I think that to consolidate our country's role as a production platform for the pharmaceutical sector in Europe and in the world, it is necessary to guarantee investments in mature medicines, our cornerstone, and at the same time develop the production of innovative medicines, such as biologics. or biosimilars”. Sergio Pecorelli, president of the Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa), underlined the lack of preventive planning and clear guidelines, which would guarantee speed not only in the management of the authorization procedures for new drugs, but also in the monitoring and update of files. “It would be useful to review and extend Aifa's tasks – explained Pecorelli – to adapt them to those of the regulatory bodies of other European countries.
It is therefore necessary to launch a new governance model for the entire drug supply chain, from industry to patient associations, which sees companies systematically involved in defining sector objectives and sharing levers to ensure system sustainability. The weight of political action must also be considered, which often does not facilitate progress, but on the contrary slows it down or even hinders it”. A stimulus to the debate on innovation was offered by Salvatore Mascia, founder and president of Continuus pharmaceuticals, a spin-out start-up from MIT, who in his video talk talked about the new continuous production technology for drugs, on which has been working for years first at the Novartis – Mit Center for Continuous Manufacturing, and then also through Continuus Pharmaceuticals: 65 million dollars of funding has allowed the development and production in a pilot plant of a drug, Aliskiren Hemifumarate, with a process of continuous and integrated production from the synthesis of the active ingredient to the finished product.
BDC – July 17, 2015 – PharmaKronos
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