The figures, at first glance, are certainly impressive. In a positive way. We are talking about a healthy sector, given that in 2025 Italian pharmaceutical exports exceeded 69 billion euros and production 74 billion euros. There are 72,200 employed people, an increase of 2% compared to the previous year (45% women, which are over 50% in R&D). There are over 4 billion in investments in high-tech systems and R&D. Of these, over 800 million are destined for clinical research at National Health Service facilities. In short. Seeing these numbers, there is reason to be calm.
But on the occasion of Made in Italy Day, from the experts present at the Farmindustria event entitled “Innovation, investments, skills. The pharmaceutical industry as a priority asset of Made in Italy”, there are also dark notes, linked to the historical moment of the entire planet.
A worrying scenario
The sector continues to be one of the driving forces for the Italian economy. But it inevitably comes to terms with the difficulties of the global geopolitical scenario, which structurally change the competitive framework and require policies to remain attractive and capable of continuing to grow.
According to Marcello Cattani, President of Farmindustria,
“the global scenario appears increasingly uncertain and complex. On the one hand, the initiative of US policy to attract investments and rebalance the global financing of innovation, which has led to measures such as the Most Favored Nation (MFN) executive order, according to which the lowest price of a drug in a panel of advanced nations becomes a reference for the cost of that medicine in the USA. These measures represent a real turning point for the ability of the EU and Italy to guarantee access to therapies and maintain competitiveness for the industry. In recent months they have already led to agreements with some of the most important companies and announcements of 400 billion USD of investments in the USA over the next 5 years. An evolution that puts the industrial base in Europe at risk, with an estimated 100 billion less in the same period”.
The weight of war
The war in Iran is causing the third shock in 4 years (after Ukraine and the Red Sea crisis) which simultaneously affects logistics, energy and the costs of all production factors. With projections of total increases of over 20%, to be added to the 30% increase from 2021 to today which, in an administered price system, falls entirely on companies. The sustainability of pharmaceutical production is at risk, also considering the problem of dependence on China and India for the most common active ingredients (74%) and other raw materials, packaging and packaging; finally, China’s enormous leap forward in pharmaceutical innovation.
Suffice it to say that many of the new oncology drugs now originate in China and that 30% of global clinical trials are started in China. Cattani continues:
“These are phenomena destined to last. While the USA, China, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Saudi Arabia have focused on innovation and are running quickly to attract investments – 2,000 billion dollars in R&D worldwide in the next 5 years – skills, technology, Europe continues to lose ground, often with anti-historic measures that reduce intellectual property and increase costs for the pharmaceutical industry. Now more than ever, a strategic and systemic approach is needed that brings together innovation, economic sustainability and production capacity in order to compete with the other global hubs, which do not stop and wait, and to continue to guarantee the same levels of welfare and well-being”.
The risks for Europe
“Focusing on innovation has never been optional and even less so now”
concludes the President of Farmindustria. Innovation that develops both in industrial plants and in research laboratories and clinical centers, which are a made in Italy excellence, peculiar to the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries.
Farmindustria has launched a Manifesto for Research starting from the assumption that “where research is done, care is provided better”. The objective is to propose concrete actions to strengthen preclinical and clinical research in Italy – a fundamental asset for improving care, skills and sustainability of the NHS – in a sector in which Europe is unfortunately losing ground to competitors such as the USA and China.
Confirming this trend, EFPIA data highlights that, despite the global increase in clinical trials, between 2013 and 2023 Europe lost 10% of its share of studies; a contraction that translates into the loss of approximately 60,000 opportunities to access experimental treatments for European patients. The risk of failing to adapt to the speed of change lies in leaving space for other hubs which in a few years will have a competitive advantage that is not easily recoverable.
