Drug Manufacturers Association: Domestic production of state-of-the-art vaccines and medicines, impossible in less than 3 years

The Association of Romania's Industrial Drug Manufacturers (PRIMER) points out that producing state-of-the-art vaccines and medicines in Romania in less than three years is impossible, and this can happen "only provided that the authorities attach the due importance to this strategic area." "Unlike countries such as Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovenia, which have given importance to the pharmaceutical industry and invested in this economic sector, Romania has regressed to the condition of a mere importer of vaccines and medicines, getting to produce less than 4 percent of the population's consumption of medicines. As a natural consequence of this situation, no more investments have been made in this industry resulting in a loss of competitiveness in the technological development of new products and of trained personnel, in the last decade," explained PRIMER executive director Dragos Damian, cited in a release. According to PRIMER, there are no practical fundamentals for allegations in the public space according to which Romania could manufacture modern vaccines or medicines, given that the economic programs of the political parties "minimize the importance of relaunching" this economic sector. PRIMER representatives consider that only a well-developed financing plan for this field could create a framework capable to attract investments in technology, proprietary recipes and formulas or production under the license of international manufacturers. "For more than five years now PRIMER has been proposing a series of long-term measures to support the production of medicines in the country. We requested that the field be considered of strategic importance in order to benefit from fiscal facilities, the approval of an offset system of the clawback tax for companies that make capital investments, as well as the establishment of a National Medicines Authority responsible for investments in new drug and vaccine plants," the PRIMER representative also said. According to the cited source, the factories in the country have to recover from "a technological regress of over ten years" if there is a desire for Romania to manufacture state-of-the-art medicines and vaccines. "PRIMER requests Prime Minister Florin Citu to create a National Medicines Authority under the Prime Minister's authority, to start the reconstruction of the Romanian pharmaceutical industry by supporting the re-engineering of existing plants, attracting new investors especially from non-EU countries, as well as by the construction of manufacturing facilities and distribution hubs using European funds and government grants under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan," Dragos Damian said. AGERPRES (RO - author: Roberto Stan, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Simona Klodnischi, editor: Simona Iacob)