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Home > ÖSTERREICH > Geschftsveranstaltungen
INNOVATION AND QUALITY: IN SAN FRANCISCO THE 'ACTIVE PRINCIPLE' IS ITALIAN
Rome (Ign) - It is one of the key sectors of the Italian economy. Not only because of the positive results every year, but also and above all because it represents the foundation of the pharmaceutical sector. We are talking about chemical active principles, which will take centre stage in San Francisco at Informex 2007 (http://www.informex.com/), the international fair dedicated to the chemical sector, to be held between 13 and 16 February at Moscone Center West. The event is organised by the American trade association for the sector (Socma, www.socma.com), and over 300 companies are expected to attend. In the 2006 edition, held in Orlando, there were 4000 visitors, the majority professionals. The Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE) has organised a collective participation of 12 Italian companies, in collaboration with the associations Aschimfarma (www.aschimfarma.it), which belongs to confederation of Italian chemical firms (www.federchimica.it), and Cpa (www.cpa-italy.org), which is part of Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council.
The centre of active and intermediate principles for the pharmaceutical industry is a dynamic sector in Italy with great prospects: the producers represent around 11% of the world market and in 2005 generated business of €3 billion divided between 18 companies providing 8,100 jobs, with a turnover per employee of €370,000. The share represented by exports is 85%, mainly directed towards North America (39%), Western Europe (35%) and Japan (17%). These results make Italy one of the most important suppliers on a world level, thanks to the consolidated chemical tradition of the country and dynamic businesses, able both to ensure quality products and to react positively to the needs of the market, rapidly adapting supply to meet demand. Proof of this is custom-synthesis - namely the creation of sophisticated molecules exclusively for individual pharmaceutical companies - which multinationals in the sector prefer to entrust to Italian companies, who can boast almost 50 years of experience in the field.
A typical business in the sector is composed of 50-200 employees, while it is rare to find larger companies (with over 200 workers). In territorial terms, Lombardy has a strong presence, alone accounting for 58% of jobs in the sector, mainly concentrated in the area around Milan (71%) - and in Lazio, where 20% of employees in the sector are based. Its points of strength are productive flexibility, technological innovation and product quality, together with a growing capacity to specialise in production methods that in the rest of the world have not yet taken hold, such as producing active principles by means of fermentation. Basically, Italian companies are perfectly set to compete on a market where the competition, particularly from India and China, is very strong, especially since, in 2005, patent protection for active principles was recognised at a legislative level, and since the coming into force at a European level of the GMP, i.e. The manufacturing certificate in which the traceability of the active principle is recognised. This involves the obligation to indicate product provenance (country, company, production facility)si riconosce la tracciabilità del principio attivo, ovvero l'obbligo di indicarne la provenienza (paese, azienda, sito produttivo) to discourage the relabelling and repackaging of products from non-EU countries.
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