For the drug industry the boost of made in Italy

The Italian pharmaceutical industry continues to grind out records thanks to the extraordinary thrust of exports, which are now worth more than 10% of all Italian manufacturing exports, as ISTAT has also reminded us in recent days. And it also does so thanks to the 'magnificent 13' of our 'Made in Italy' pharmaceutical industry: the 13 main companies with Italian capital - the so-called "Fab13" - which, together with a large group of third-party companies and the numerous multinational groups present in our country, drive this excellence, by now an asset of the country, which reaches everywhere in the world and which, if it was worth 19.2 billion in exports in 2019, reached 53,8 billion in 2024 and could close 2025 by far exceeding 70 billion, so much so that medicines in the first nine months of last year - in the midst of international geopolitical turmoil - surpassed symbolic Made in Italy products such as wines, sports cars or shipbuilding in terms of foreign trade assets. Numbers that shine even brighter among the Fab 13 which - as shown by the Edison Foundation report presented yesterday at the Chamber of Deputies - in 2024 saw revenues increase by 12%, reaching 18.9 billion Euros aggregated (they were 12.7 only three years before) with the foreign component growing by 14%, even if the domestic market rose by only 2% due to the stagnation of national demand. Fab 13 exports are also running at +16% compared to 2023, much more than Italy's total exports of pharmaceutical products grew (+10%). Total investments (net of company acquisitions, products and licences) also grew by 21%, with R&D investments of 1.4 billion, up 27%. Employment grew by 3% compared to 2023: +2% in Italy; +4% abroad.

It is precisely their employment and presence in Italy that tell the story of the trail left by these magnificent 13 who are Alfasigma, Abiogen Pharma, Angelini Pharma, Chiesi Farmaceutici, Dompé Farmaceutici, I.B.N. Savio, Italfarmaco, Kedrion, Menarini, Molteni, Neopharmed Gentili, Recordati and Zambon. The Fab13 employ 22% of the workforce of the entire pharmaceutical industry in Italy. The total number of employees is around 50,400, of which over 35 thousand abroad (70%) and 15 thousand in Italy (30%). Of these, half are women. The percentage of university graduates and high school graduates exceeds 80% and over 90% of employees are hired on permanent contracts. The 13 'Made in Italy' Biggies of the famaco also have 65 production sites, 29 of which are in Italy, and 51 R&D centres around the world, with an extensive network of branches (a total of 289) that support the global operations of the entire group.

For Alberto Chiesi, President of Industrie Farmaceutiche Italiane - Fab13: 'This study is a concrete testimony of how Italian entrepreneurship transforms research into wellbeing for millions of people and a driving force for our economy. At a time of global crisis, these companies show that Italy is a leader in innovation, with pharmaceutical exports that compete with global giants'. And if Massimo Garavaglia, President of the Senate Finance Commission, pointed the finger at the payback that "must be overcome because it slows down investment", the Minister for Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, defined the Fab13 "as ambassadors of Italian industry in the world" and "a development model that has been able to transform some peculiarities of the Italian system into levers of competitiveness and growth". "We are aware of the importance of the sector: this is why," the minister concluded, "we immediately set up a Table dedicated to the sector, collecting indications, which will also be included in the soon-to-be-published White Paper on industrial policy.