The Spanish pharmaceutical industry has put an ambitious project on the table to place our country in the European elite.

In a meeting held last Thursday between more than twenty world CEOs of the main laboratories with a presence in Spain and some nationals and the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, together with the ministers Carolina Darias, Reyes Maroto and Diana Morant, designed an action plan.

Globally, Farmaindustria, the employers' association in the sector, points to an investment of more than 8,000 million euros in the next three years and the creation of at least 4,500 new jobs focused on the youngest.

In the working document to which EL MUNDO has had access, the pillars of the Strategic Plan for the Pharmaceutical Industry designed would be: "First, promote R+D+i, thanks to a solid framework of industrial property and public-private collaboration ; second, to develop the industrial fabric and the resilience of supply chains; and, third, to facilitate patient access to these new medicines."

To carry out this strategic plan, Farmaindustria has asked the Sánchez Executive for support in Europe, especially now that Spain will hold the presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2023. "We hope that the Spanish Government can lead the efforts in order to attract other Member States to maintain incentives for innovation in this sector. And further progress is needed to allow Europe to recover its lost position as a benchmark in biomedical research in the international context."

Laboratories have highlighted the impact of their economy: their activity weighs more than 9% of GDP and employs 10.5% of Social Security affiliates.

In addition, the document highlights the role of health as a driver of innovation-intensive sectors (medicines, health technologies, digital health, specialized providers).

"Each euro invested in health research (public or private) generates 1.6 euros of added value. Each million euros invested in this sector contributes to the creation and maintenance of 15.6 jobs."

Regarding employment, "high quality (93% of the more than 49,200 employees have permanent contracts), qualified (two thirds are university graduates) and equal (women represent more than 53% of employment in the sector and almost 45% of the steering committees, plus two out of three researchers are women".

Spain is the leader in clinical trials worldwide, only surpassed by the US.

The next step is to 'place' our country as a reference in Europe, attracting the last step in the pharmaceutical chain: the manufacture of medicines, which would complete the development phase that does take place in health centers.

It should be noted that with current tools, drug exports will amount to 45,000 million euros in the next three years and 3,000 million euros of services.

The idea is to "enhance its role as a production platform, attracting investment in manufacturing plants and strengthening the resilience of international supply chains. Among other mechanisms, reforms in the Profarma Plan and incentives for the production of strategic medicines could be evaluated." .

This would be a key boost, since production is being relocated from Europe to the US and Asia.

In the chapter on the claims, Farmaindustria has insisted that "it is necessary to close the gap with the main European countries in terms of access to new medicines. Currently, only 53% of the medicines authorized in the EU are financed in Spain and there is a delay of more than 17 months between the authorization and the pricing and financing decision".

Although the European Pharmaceutical Strategy launched in 2021 wants to respond in its main lines to these challenges, "we must avoid that the review of pharmaceutical legislation currently being prepared by the European Commission penalizes R&D by reducing regulatory incentives (protection of registration data, incentives for orphans and pediatrics)".

And they stress that "Europe needs a strengthened industrial strategy, which increases its attractiveness for investment in R&D and its competitiveness. This industrial policy must be based on market incentives and rewards for innovation."

The urgency of the implementation of the plan is because 2023 is a key year for the global pharmaceutical agenda (WHO, WTO, WTO, G20), European (review of EU legislation) and national (reform of the Law on Guarantees and use rationale for the drug).

"Thus, at the global level, the leaders of the global and Spanish pharmaceutical industry have the firm will to present to the President of the Government of Spain their practical proposal addressed to all world decision-makers, embodied in the Berlin Declaration to improve equitable access in preparing for and future response to a pandemic.

Moncloa, in a press release after the meeting, assured that the President of the Government highlighted the importance of the sector and of public-private collaboration and has promised to advance dialogue with the sector from the Alliance of the Strategic Project for the Recovery and Vanguardia Health Economic Transformation (PERTE) towards a permanent dialogue forum.

It should be remembered that the Strategic Plan for the Pharmaceutical Industry is a key piece of the fifth reform of component 18 of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, some of which could be reflected in a consensual reform of the Guarantees Law, which was planned to see the light this December.

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  • Health

  • Europe

  • USA

  • Pedro Sanchez

  • Social Security

  • European Comission

  • Asia

  • GDP

  • THE WORLD

  • maroto kings

  • Caroline Darias

  • Diana Morant