Abstract
The chapter analyzes a sector which in recent years has acquired a prominent role in the Italian economy. The pharmaceutical sector of late has experienced considerable growth due to numerous investments from foreign multinationals attracted by Italian manufacturing sites, research centers, and specialized personnel at competitive rates. Consequently, Italy is strategically placed for becoming a major European pharmaceutical hub. In fact, it is already the second largest EU-28 pharmaceutical producer in terms of value. The chapter begins with a description of the Italian pharmaceutical sector and then focuses on the regions in which pharma has developed the most. It also provides a European comparison of how five Italian regions rank within the classification of large European pharmaceutical regions. Production, investment and exports are analyzed in terms of the Italian pharmaceutical industry’s performance nationally and internationally. Research results show that from 1991 to 2014 Italian export quotas of medicines and pharmaceutical preparations, as a share of total exports, increased from 0.5 to 4.5 %. Italy’s ranking in the classification of exported pharma products moved up from 53rd place in 1991 to 4th place in 2014. Internationally, Italy over the last five years, has had the highest increase in absolute value of pharmaceutical exports ($8.1 billion). Between 2010 and 2014, its world market share increased by 2 % from 4.5 to 6.5 %. A comparison of the major European nations, shows that Germany increased by 1 %, while other large EU countries saw a decrease in their export share of pharmaceutical products. Last, the chapter concludes with a brief analysis of the biotech sector. Italy has SMEs exclusively dedicated to biotechnologies as well as large pharmaceutical companies which also specialize in biotech.
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Notes
- 1.
The NUTS classification (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) is a hierarchical system for dividing the economic territory of the European Union in different ways:
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NUTS0: 28 EU Member States;
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NUTS1: major socio-economic regions; for example, the German Lander, or in Italy’s case regional areas like the Northwest, Northeast, Central, South and its Islands;
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NUTS2: basic regions for the application of regional policies; they are called regions in Italy, autonomous communities in Spain, regions and overseas departments in France, provinces in Belgium and Holland, Lander in Austria, Regierungsbezirke in Germany, etc.;
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NUTS3: small regions for specific diagnoses; Italian Provinces, German Kreise, French Departments, Spanish Provinces, Greek Nomoi, Finnish Maakunnat, Swedish Län, etc.
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- 2.
It is interesting to note that currently, the exports of “medicines and pharmaceutical preparations” have amply surpassed furniture exports, a historic “Made in Italy” sector, which is half the value of pharmaceuticals.
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Fortis, M., Carminati, M. (2016). Italy: A New European Pharmaceutical Hub. In: Fortis, M. (eds) The Pillars of the Italian Economy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40186-7_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40186-7_5
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