The medicine, health, social and economic value

Biomedical innovation cannot be considered an expense, but rather an investment that redounds in the medium and long term in health systems and in society as a whole

For every euro invested in new medicines, the public health system saves between 2 and 7 euros in other health benefits

‘The value of medicine’, a space on the Farmaindustria website, collects updated data on the contributions of new drugs from a global perspective

Source: www.farmaindustria.es

Many people are unaware that for every euro that is invested in new drugs, the public health system can save between 2 and 7 euros in other health services, or that new drugs are directly responsible for up to 73% of the increase in life expectancy. life in developed societies, 70% of the improvement in cancer survival rates and 47% of deaths averted in cardiovascular diseases.

This is the reality shown by scientific evidence, as reflected in the report The value of medicine from a social perspective 2021, carried out by the Weber Foundation with the support of Farmaindustria. The authors of the profuse report -which was presented last March- demonstrate through numerous cases the savings in direct and indirect costs of medicines, their important impact on the results in health and quality of life of people and the contribution that the pharmaceutical industry performs the economies in which it is established.

Therefore, biomedical innovation generates an important social value that must be taken into account by the authorities to contribute to its promotion, and, therefore, the drug cannot be considered an expense, but an investment that results in the medium and long term. term in health systems and in society as a whole. As has been demonstrated during this crude pandemic, the responses to health emergencies are in the new drugs and vaccines, but they are also the best weapon to overcome the deep economic and social crisis caused by SARS-CoV-2.

Beyond the coronavirus, other pathologies have been benefiting from the effect of new drugs. Cancer, HIV, asthma, hepatitis C, multiple sclerosis or rare diseases have stood out in recent years as recipients of important benefits in survival and quality of life.

On the other hand, the industry that makes these advances possible, the pharmaceutical industry, has positioned itself as one of the main sectors that generate added value, quality employment and competitiveness in developed economies. It is a leading R&D sector, with more than 150,000 million euros of annual investment worldwide, an investment that has not stopped growing in the last 25 years. In Spain, 19% of all industrial investment in R&D comes from the pharmaceutical industry.

It is also a source of quality employment: permanent, qualified and diverse. In our country, the pharmaceutical industry directly employs more than 42,000 people, two out of three with higher education and 52% women. And, finally, it is a tractor sector for the economy: each euro in production generates between 1 and 2 additional in other sectors, and each direct job generates up to 4 indirect and induced ones.

All these data and much more can be consulted from today, in an agile and interactive way, on the Farmaindustria website, in the space The value of medicine, which includes a new summary of the main contributions of new drugs from a global perspective.