Public investment in medicines remains stable in terms of GDP, which reinforces the idea of long-term financial sustainability.
Farmaindustria presents ‘The pharmaceutical industry and its context in Spain 2024’, the first report that brings together in a single volume all the figures of the health sector from various public databases for quick and easy consultation.
The work includes the contribution of the pharmaceutical industry in Spain in the health, economic and social spheres.
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Public investment in medicines has not increased over the last 20 years when compared to total public expenditure. In 2023, Spain spent 3.4% of its total public expenditure on pharmacological treatments, a percentage that has decreased significantly over the last 30 years and has remained relatively stable in recent years.
The data raises doubts about its long-term financial sustainability, also when compared with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), where it can be seen that public investment in medicines has hardly varied in the last 20 years, and that the cyclical variations are due to economic shocks (financial crisis of 2009 or the crisis caused by the pandemic in 2020).
Farmaindustria.es
These are some of the figures included in the report The pharmaceutical industry and its context in Spain 2024, in which for the first time Farmaindustria compiles the main figures for the healthcare sector from official public data sources, scientific publications and relevant organisations, as well as Farmaindustria’s own data from surveys of its associates in cases where there is no public information.
The report is classified into three broad areas to understand the industry and its contribution and value, from the broader context of demographic and macroeconomic indicators to health indicators and pharmaceutical market and industry indicators.
In terms of demographics, the report covers the evolution of life expectancy in Spain, as well as the number of years lived in good health. It details the prevalence of different relevant diseases in terms of their impact and the influence of new drugs on their evolution, as for example in the case of cancer. As macroeconomic data, it highlights the impact of inflation on the pharmaceutical industry, with a cost overrun in 2021 and 2022 of more than 1,500 million euros, which has had a strong impact on the pharmaceutical industry as it operates in a regulated market with regulated prices.
The report also includes the main data on the health system. From the number of health centres to the number and distribution of professionals and the figures on healthcare activity, with its evolution in recent years. The document also looks at the healthcare investment undertaken at both national and regional level and in the European context.
The pharmaceutical industry and the pharmaceutical market
Focusing on the pharmaceutical industry, the report develops the economic contribution of innovative drugs at different levels. The sector is a driver of the economy through employment, with more than 54,000 direct jobs and 210,000 indirect and induced jobs generated by the pharmaceutical industry in Spain. Quality, stable and diverse employment, with 96% of permanent contracts, 70% of qualified workers and 56% of women on the workforce, with 45% female representation on management committees.
In terms of production, the sector produces more than 23.2 billion euros, with high added value as an industry and high labour productivity. Spain has 106 production plants producing medicines for human use, of which more than 80 produce branded medicines, which reinforces the open strategic autonomy.
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Pharmaceuticals is the second most productive sector of all manufacturing industry, and represents almost double the average of the entire Spanish industrial manufacturing sector. The sector is also the second industrial sector that invests the most in research and development, with almost one out of every five euros of total national industrial investment. Pharmaceutical companies are the most innovative (78.3% of all companies are innovative) ahead of any other industry.
The pharmaceutical industry is also the one with the most patents in Spain and is very competitive internationally, with a growing number of exports. Medicines were Spain’s fifth most exported product in 2023, when in 2000 it was 17th in the ranking.
As for the pharmaceutical market, the report shows its distribution and the upward trend of medicines included in the Reference Price System (RPS) or Homogeneous Groupings (HAGs) (drugs that have lost their patent). In 2023, these exceeded 86% of all units dispensed in pharmacies (and 67% in value terms). And in those presentations where there is direct competition between generics and brands, two out of every three units sold are generic and one is branded.
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As for the prices of medicines in this group dispensed in pharmacies, 37.7% have a retail price of less than 2.50 euros and more than half (56%) have a retail price of less than five euros. This means that in the last five years, the increase in inflation has been six times higher than the increase in the average price of medicines in pharmacies.
