“Pharmaceutical innovations must arrive quickly and must be made accessible quickly, regardless of where you live and how much you earn. There cannot be differences between North and South, this is our weak point and I always ask for the collaboration of the Regions. I must say that the reform of the Aifa is working: the Single Commission has approved many unfinished practices and the first results on the average evaluation times have dropped from 500 to 250 days. It is a process that has just begun and it is important to give Italians pharmaceutical innovations”. Thus the Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci, in his speech today at the Farmindustria assembly in Rome.
As for drug shortages, “it is a problem that has become more acute since 2021 due to various problems, we also have an aging population, but the shortage must be seen in a global context. We have in Aifa – the minister recalls – a table that deals with drug shortages and we exchange information with other states, but in Italy we need to balance this problem with the use of equivalent drugs – he suggests – which are underused compared to other EU countries”. However, a “global vision is also needed, making it clear that, if a drug is missing, it can be sought in other countries in Europe. But the raw materials are produced in China and India and we cannot depend on them, which is why we must seek new markets and synergies”.
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