“We are working to improve the country's attractiveness, through the reform of the governance of foreign direct investments and with actions such as, for example, the new labor legislation, where the Jobs Act aims to guarantee greater flexibility in the market, the improvement of of justice, with "dedicated courts" for disputes involving foreign investors and new tax measures such as super-depreciation - 140% tax credit for investments in machinery, entrusting ICE with operational tasks for assistance to businesses.” This is what the Undersecretary for Economic Development, Ivan Scalfarotto observed when speaking at the meeting “Productive excellence and industrial development. The challenges for the growth of territories”, organized by the biopharmaceutical company AbbVie, which was also attended by the President of the Lazio Region, Nicola Zingaretti, on the occasion of a visit to the production site in Campoverde di Aprilia (LT).
2016 opened under the banner of a marked slowdown in the global economy. It therefore seems a priority to strengthen actions to stimulate domestic demand and productivity through interventions aimed at innovation, internationalization and the attraction of foreign investments, so as to lay the foundations for lasting growth, capable of increasing competitiveness, income and consumption. Today's debate offers the opportunity for an all-out comparison of national and regional policies to stimulate the economy starting from the significant contribution that can come from an industrial reality of excellence that operates in an extremely dynamic sector, the pharmaceutical sector, capable of giving a decisive contribution to the recovery by scoring excellent results. Second in production in Europe, with a strong component of new drugs, this is the sector that has shown the greatest growth in the 2010-15 period, driven by exports that exceed 70% of turnover. According to the latest Farmindustria data, in 2015 compared to the previous year there was an increase in production of 5%, in employment of 1%, and in exports of 4%. Medicines therefore contribute to the health of the country, but also to that of its finances and economy. Suffice it to consider, for example, the direct effects and in terms of induced activities.
"Investing in Italy and exporting to the world" begins with these words in his speech the managing director of Abbvie Italia, Fabrizio Greco, to summarize the commitment of the global biopharmaceutical company and underlines "According to the latest Farmindustria calculations in 2015 the direct contribution of AbbVie and its related industries in Italy reaches 560 million euros, overall in terms of investments, salaries, direct taxes and VAT. A fact that shows how important it is to ensure favorable conditions for attracting investments.
Maintaining these conditions of success is strongly linked to the need to create a context conducive to innovation, an element that characterizes the pharmaceutical industry in general and AbbVie in particular”. Then concludes Fabrizio Greco. “It is necessary to be able to count on certain, homogeneous and stable rules over time throughout the country, rules that support innovation and favor the development and access to new drugs to meet the treatment needs of patients suffering from serious pathologies. This is possible only with the contribution of all the institutional decision-makers involved in order to create effective programming, in step with the ongoing transformations, capable of responding to present and future challenges".
The pharmaceutical industry in Italy is made up of 40% by Italian companies and 60% by global companies with foreign capital. Among companies with foreign capital, the sector is the 1st manufacturing sector for investments and exports (Farmindustria based on Istat data). A key sector, therefore, in terms of attracting foreign investment and export development. AbbVie is an emblematic case in the pharmaceutical industry in Italy, where it holds the second place among foreign companies for foreign sales and the fourth for research and production employees (2014 data recently processed by the Farmindustria Study Center).
But what policies and tools can be put in place to attract more and more entrepreneurs and investors to Italy? The issue is central to the government's agenda. While acknowledging that in the past the Ministry of Economic Development has focused more on promoting our exports than on attracting foreign direct investments, Undersecretary Ivan Scalfarotto underlines "the Government has taken care to create a new unified process for the attraction of investments, with the aim of creating a point of contact at the national level, capable of establishing effective collaborations between central administrations and local authorities. The Ministry of Economic Development was thus entrusted with the coordination of an inter-ministerial steering committee for the attraction of foreign investments”.
AbbVie recently announced an investment of 60 million dollars for the Campoverde plant by 2017. The appreciation for the high quality levels of the Italian production center was a determining factor in the choice. “For an internationalized sector such as pharmaceuticals, growth depends on the ability to be competitive” underlines Francesco Tatangelo, director of the AbbVie plant. And he adds “One fact for everyone: in the last three years AbbVie Italia has increased its sales abroad by more than 25%, more than 4 times the average result of the national manufacturing industry (Farmindustria elaborations). Precisely thanks to the high standards achieved, we have in fact managed to bring important productions to Italy destined for the whole world, such as one of the active ingredients that make up the innovative AbbVie treatment for Hepatitis C. And now for this new assembly and packaging line we have been able to channel around a quarter of AbbVie's global investment in the development of its production sites around the world to our country”. Present in Italy since 1963, the Campoverde plant also presents, thanks to constant investments, also high standards in terms of energy efficiency and reduction of environmental impact.
In Italy, the company operates in one of the most dynamic pharmaceutical clusters, the Lazio region, the first for export. Among other things, the district of Latina excels in terms of exports, followed by that of Frosinone.
