MILAN (ITALPRESS) – Innovation, production quality and strategic alliances. They are the three pillars on which Arianna Gregis, managing director of Bayer Italia, builds the vision of a company that looks to the future with the momentum of those who want to replicate the goals of the last 125 years of presence in the country. He explains this in an interview with Claudio Brachino for the Italpress Economy TV magazine. “Let’s celebrate more than 125 years in our country and we have never felt so young,” says Gregis, immediately outlining the company’s strategic coordinates. In addition to innovation, which defines part of the company’s DNA, the manager indicates production quality as the second leading axis: “Italy for us is a strategic country where to also make cutting-edge production and technological production”. The third pillar is that of alliances: “We live in a moment of great uncertainty and great complexity. No actor has all the cards in hand and the only solution to find concrete innovation in people’s lives is to build bridges with institutions, scientific societies and associations.” The starting point of Gregis’ analysis is the global epidemiological and demographic framework: a population that ages, increasingly chronic pathologies, rare diseases still devoid of effective solutions and a health system under pressure for reasons of sustainability. Faced with these challenges, Bayer chose to focus on two strategic guidelines: artificial intelligence and personalized medicine. On Artificial Intelligence, the manager explains: “We do not see it as a tool, but as an accelerator of processes, systems and creation of ecosystems.” The IA accompanies Bayer from the early stages of research and development of new drugs, and the declared ambition is ambitious: to reduce by 40% the search times of a new molecule by 2030. A goal made possible also by alliances with leading technological players such as Google Cloud and Recursion. IA is applied to clinical studies, industrial manufacturing processes and the accessibility of patient therapies. On the front of personalised medicine, Gregis focuses on advanced therapies – so-called cell and gene therapies – that open unprecedented scenarios on pathologies today considered untreated: “I think of debilitating neurological conditions such as Parkinson, heart disease or vision that require innovative therapies.” But the jump is not only scientific: “To think about these advanced therapies is not only a laboratory challenge, but a system challenge, because it also means creating a new production and distribution system that can make them available and sustainable.” At the heart of Bayer Italia’s production capacity there is the Garbagnate Milanese factory, which this year celebrates its first 80 years. Gregis presents it with a symbol number: “8 billion. It is the number of tablets produced every year. One for every inhabitant of the planet.” For one of the main products of the plant, about 70% of the production is intended for export, confirming the site as one of the most relevant in the European pharmaceutical industry. “Garbagnate is the proof that advanced quality production can come from Italy and Europe,” said the ad, pointing out that the plant has been recognized among the most advanced in the world in its sector.The development plans look at two directors: the strengthening of export and energy sustainability. Bayer aims to achieve 100% carbon neutrality in the coming years. “For me, development is at the intersection of human skills, artificial intelligence and the possibility of having a green sustainability,” says Gregis, who also addresses the issue of the criticalities of the European and Italian system during the interview. The first concerns supply chain: the availability of active ingredients in Europe and also in Italy is at risk and Gregis launches an appeal to constructzion of “shared B plans” to maintain and increase local production. The second criticism concerns scientific research. The data is worrying: faced with approximately 55 billion euros invested every year in research in Europe, in recent years the continent has lost 25% of the clinical studies it hosted, for the benefit of the United States and China. “Today the system is not as competitive as the American or Chinese system in Europe,” says Bayer Italia’s ad, indicating in bureaucracy and fragmentation the main causes of delay. “We must be able to create a system where the scientific excellence of Italian research centers and hospitals are benefited, instead of penalized, by bureaucracy.” The field of life sciences is worth 10% of GDP in Italy, an economic weight that supports a wider strategic importance: export capacity, scientific and technological innovation, attraction of STEM skills and significant presence of women in the sector. “We cannot settle for what is already happening,” says Gregis. “We need to raise our voice to ask for more investment and a system that rewards innovation.”.
– Photo Italpress –
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