"Despite the commitment of the Prime Minister, in practical terms with the DPEF", approved by the Council of Ministers, "a tax of 800 million on the pharmaceutical industries, without touching any of the other sectors". The complaint comes from the president of Farmindustria, Sergio Dompé, on the sidelines of a meeting, on primary care in Italy. "Pharmaceuticals – he recalled – is the only expenditure that remained under the planned ceiling in 2007 and 2008. Not only that, in the last 8 years it represents the only expenditure in all healthcare that has not grown, on the contrary it has decreased slightly. The the result is that only this one is cut: please don't talk about meritocracy". As for the statements by Welfare Minister Maurizio Sacconi, who shortly before had said that the dialogue with the drug companies would continue, Dompé replies: "if the Government's responses are these, we do not have the possibility of guaranteeing either new investments or the maintenance of the existing ones. Despite the good words – the number one of Farmindustria insists – the Government is only telling us that it is not interested in having this type of industry in its territory, and we will draw our consequences". Dompé does not hide the fact that, in light of yet another cut, "the maintenance of production sites in Italy is at risk. It is no coincidence that we have had 7,000 job cuts in the last year and a half", he concludes.
Source: pharmacist33
