The new president proposes to increase public investment in healthcare, to position Spain amongst the leading European countries in terms of access to innovation, and to make biomedical research and strategic autonomy matters of state policy

consalud.es / Juan López-Belmonte, in his speech as the new president of Farmaindustria

Juan López-Belmonte Encina will chair Farmaindustria for the next two years. The chairman and chief executive of Laboratorios Rovi has been elected by the Association’s Extraordinary General Assembly — held this Thursday in Madrid — to succeed Fina Lladós, managing director of Amgen Iberia, who has chaired Farmaindustria for the past two years.

López-Belmonte returns to the presidency of Farmaindustria six years after first taking up the post, in October 2020, at the height of the pandemic. In his inaugural speech, he highlighted the value of an association capable of “turning the diversity of its member companies into a strength” and of “speaking with a single voice to public authorities, healthcare professionals, patients and society”.

The new president noted that his term of office begins this time against a much more turbulent international backdrop, where geopolitical tensions and the need to strengthen scientific and industrial capabilities have made the pharmaceutical industry a strategic priority for countries. “Medicines are no longer just a health issue, but also an economic, industrial and security issue. The pandemic taught us that having our own scientific and industrial capabilities is a fundamental prerequisite for healthcare autonomy.”

‘If we are already leaders in clinical trials, we can also be leaders in real-world access’

THREE COMMITMENTS TO DRIVE LEADERSHIP IN SPAIN
Against this backdrop, and in the run-up to the forthcoming general election, the president of Farmaindustria has announced the aim of conveying to the political parties that the next parliamentary term should be one of biomedical competitiveness, with a proposal for Spain to lead Europe in health, innovation and strategic autonomy, based on three commitments for the next Government.

Firstly, he has proposed reaching a parliamentary agreement to increase public investment in healthcare by one percentage point of GDP, in order to catch up with the most advanced European countries. This effort would make it possible to strengthen healthcare staffing levels, technology and infrastructure, make progress in measuring health outcomes, and roll out value-based funding models across the board.

Secondly, he called for a National Strategy for Access to Innovation that would place Spanish patients amongst the first in Europe to have access to new medicines. The proposal envisages funding innovations within 180 days, establishing a 90-day fast-track process for priority treatments, and reducing disparities between autonomous communities to virtually zero. “If we are already leaders in clinical trials, we can also be leaders in actual access: a patient should not have to wait any longer for their innovative medicine in one autonomous community than in another,” he emphasised.

“The competition to attract investment takes place in real time and does not wait for political timetables”

The third commitment involves making biomedical research and strategic autonomy matters of national policy. To this end, Farmaindustria proposes consolidating Spain’s leadership in clinical trials, promoting the secondary use of health data and digital innovation centres, improving the framework for industrial investment, and strengthening security of supply through strategic reserves and capabilities. The stated aim is to mobilise up to 21,500 million euros of investment from the pharmaceutical industry between 2027 and 2030 and to create 81,000 direct jobs by the end of that period.

“Behind these proposals lies a fundamental idea that we have been championing for years and that I will continue to champion with the same conviction: medicines are not an expense, they are an investment in health, in skilled employment, in exports and in the country’s strategic capacity,” stated Juan López-Belmonte.

The president pointed out that Spain has “sufficient strengths” to capitalise on this opportunity: its European leadership in clinical trials for new medicines, a network of over 180 production plants, and the Pharmaceutical Industry Strategy – the first sectoral policy of its kind developed jointly by several ministries and the industry. The challenge, he concluded, is for the Strategy “to be translated into concrete measures as soon as possible”, because “the competition to attract investment takes place in real time and does not wait for political timetables”.