Pharmaceutical companies reaffirm their commitment to research and access to innovation in Spain
Predictability, adequate taxation and imagination in the search for solutions, within the framework of a constant dialogue with the Administration, keys to ensure the advancement of biomedical R&D in Spain
Responsible for MSD, Roche, Amgen and Rovi Laboratories participated in a round table at the XIX Meeting of the Spanish Pharmaceutical Industry in Santander
Source: www.farmaindustria.es
Representatives of different pharmaceutical companies participating in the XIX Meeting of the Spanish Pharmaceutical Industry, held on September 5 and 6 in Santander, reaffirmed the commitment of laboratories to research, and especially to clinical research, in Spain, a country that it is already for many companies that attracts more investments in clinical trials after the United States.
At the same time, those responsible for MSD, Roche, Amgen and Rovi Laboratories, who participated in a round table under the title The contribution of pharmaceutical companies to research in Spain: where are we and how to progress ?, highlighted the importance to achieve greater efficiency in the evaluation processes of new medicines to optimize patients’ access to innovation in Spain.
Both the president of MSD Spain, Ana Argelich, and the director of Institutional Relations of Roche Spain, Federico Plaza, highlighted the importance that Spain has gained in recent years as a destination for investments in biomedical R&D, and in particular in clinical research .
In this sense, Argelich considered that there is continuity and an impulse that reinforces public-private partnerships, as well as a recognition of R&D and innovation as strategic engines of growth. In addition, he advocated continuing work to improve equity in access in Spain and to take into account the health results of innovation.
Plaza said that Spain has managed to place itself in the advance by implementing the new designs of clinical trials (such as the so-called basket and umbrella), aimed at patients who share the same genetic mutation even if they do not necessarily have the same type of cancer or the same organ affected . For the representative of Roche Spain, the existence of a high quality research fabric and the stability environment have been key factors in attracting investments in biomedical R&D to Spain.
A regulation favorable to innovation
This commitment to advance research through innovative clinical trial designs was also highlighted by Amgen Spain’s general director, Fina Lladós, who underlined the great training of Spanish healthcare professionals and researchers as a key to making Spain an attractive country for Invest in biomedical R&D. In this context it is crucial, according to Lladós, that the Government and the institutions make possible a regulation that facilitates innovation, since research does not make sense if patients cannot benefit from it.
Juan López-Belmonte, CEO of Laboratorios Rovi, contributed the optics of the pharmaceutical industry of Spanish capital, and emphasized the importance of incremental innovation, which improves or finds new uses for existing medicines, which allows for more solutions to doctors and patients. He also recalled that this type of innovation, accumulated over time, also ends up becoming disruptive innovation, and stressed the importance that it has, for national capital companies, to position themselves solidly in the niches that allow them provide more value, both nationally and internationally.
In any case, the representatives of the companies agreed to highlight how predictability, adequate taxation and imagination in the search for solutions, within the framework of a constant dialogue with the Administration, are key to ensuring the progress of R&D Biomedical in Spain. Thus, they insisted on everyone’s responsibility so that the medicine reaches each patient who needs it and proposed to better measure the real value that innovative drugs provide, collaborating with the Administration in its financing.
Distefar supports a regulation that is consistent and favorable to innovative research in clinical trials. In this way, Spain is the second country to attract this type of investment, only behind the United States.
