Roche’s Managing Director: ‘Italia is less competitive; drug trials have fallen by 30 per cent’
According to Amy VanBuskirk, the Swiss giant’s new General Manager in Italia, there is a risk of a ‘silent’ relocation. We are too slow at recruiting patients for research
‘We welcome the initial signs from the Italian Government in the budget and the Consolidated Act, but the pace of reform is still too slow compared to the speed at which international capital moves. The real risk for Italia is that of a silent exodus: with every day that passes without structural decisions, major investors are choosing other hubs”: Amy VanBuskirk is the new General Manager of Roche in Italia, the Swiss giant which presented its new impact study on our country in Rome: an ‘impact’ of 718 million on GDP, involving over 1,300 Italian suppliers across 51 product sectors, 78 per cent of which are SMEs. These are significant figures, but they also reveal a substantial decline in research investment of over 30 per cent: the number of clinical trials funded by Roche has fallen from 174 in 2023, with 56.5 million invested, to 137 in 2025, with 33 million invested.
How strategic is Italia?
We have been here for 130 years, and our Italian subsidiary was the first to be established outside Switzerland; this illustrates the strategic importance of our presence, which stems from many reasons – in particular because Italia is a hub boasting outstanding scientific expertise and skills, with robust public and private centres and highly skilled researchers who can help us bring innovation to the patient’s bedside.
Why has there been this reduction in investment in Italia?
This does not mean that there has been an actual decision to divest; the point is that, whilst Italia remains attractive to its top researchers and boasts excellent infrastructure, it has, on the other hand, become less competitive. In particular, its weakness lies in the slow pace at which clinical trials are initiated compared with other countries. The figures show that 144 days elapse between the trial being approved and the first patient being enrolled, compared, for example, with 111 days in Spain and 140 days in France and Germany. Whilst this slowness is already apparent within Europe, it is even more evident in international competition, for example with China. And this is a real shame because Italia has all the capabilities and requirements to be attractive on an international level. Italia is, however, still involved in 85 per cent of Phase III trials and 75 per cent of Phase II trials conducted globally by Roche.
