The president and CEO of the pharmaceutical company Laboratorios Rovi, Juan López-Belmonte, has been appointed the new top leader of Farmaindustria for the next two years, a decision that has been ratified during the celebration of the Extraordinary General Assembly of the employers' association.
With this appointment, López-Belmonte takes over from the general director of Amgen Iberia, Fina Lladós, president since 2024, and returns to lead the business association, a position he first held in October 2020. In his view, Farmaindustria is capable of "turning the diversity of companies into strength" and of offering a common voice before the Administrations, health agents, patients, and the entire citizenry.
"The medicine is no longer just a health issue, but also an economic, industrial, and security one," he pointed out, also emphasizing that the pandemic "taught that having scientific and industrial capabilities is a fundamental condition for health autonomy." For this reason, he believes that the pharmaceutical industry must be positioned as a strategic priority for the States.
Regarding the general elections on November 29, he advanced at the event, closed by the Secretary of State for Industry, Jordi García Brustenga, his intention to convey to the political parties the need for the next legislature to be "the one of biomedical competitiveness," for which he has proposed a "proposal for Spain to lead Europe in health, innovation, and strategic autonomy, based on three commitments for the next Government."
The first of those commitments involves "reaching a legislative agreement that allows raising public investment in Health by one point of GDP to converge with the most advanced European countries," an effort that, he indicated, "would allow reinforcing staffing, technology, and health infrastructures, advancing in the measurement of health outcomes, and generalizing funding formulas linked to value."
Calls for a 'National Strategy for Access to Innovation'
Along with this, he has requested "a 'National Strategy for Access to Innovation' that places Spanish patients among the first in Europe in access to new medications." This initiative proposes to finance innovations in less than 180 days, establish a fast track of 90 days for priority treatments, and reduce the differences between autonomous communities to practically zero. In his opinion, if Spain is already a reference in clinical trials, it can also be "a reference in real access."
Thirdly, he has urged to "turn biomedical research and strategic autonomy into state policies." To this end, he proposes "to consolidate Spanish leadership in clinical trials, promote the secondary use of health data and digital innovation centers, improve the framework for industrial investment, and strengthen supply security through reserves and strategic capacities," with the goal of "mobilizing up to 21.5 billion euros of investment from the pharmaceutical industry between 2027 and 2030, and reaching 81,000 direct jobs by the end of that period."
"Behind these proposals, there is a fundamental idea that we have been defending for years and that I will continue to defend with the same conviction: medication is not an expense, it is an investment," emphasized López-Belmonte, who added that it is "an investment in health, in qualified employment, in exports, and in strategic capacity for the country."
In this line, he recalled that "Spain has sufficient strengths to take advantage of this opportunity," among them "its European leadership in clinical trials with new medications, a network of more than 180 production plants, and the 'Pharmaceutical Industry Strategy,' the first sectoral policy of these characteristics developed jointly by several Ministries and the sector." "The challenge is for the Strategy to be translated as soon as possible into concrete measures, because the competition to attract investment occurs in real time and does not wait for political calendars," he warned.
Finally, he has dedicated some words of recognition to Lladós, who has led Farmaindustria "in a very demanding context," a task that, as he has highlighted, he has performed "with closeness, serenity, listening ability, and a firmness that has never needed to raise the voice." For her part, her predecessor has emphasized that "no health policy will make sense if it does not have patients at the center" and has insisted that when talking "about times, regulation, financing, investment, or incentives," it is actually talking "about people who are waiting for a response."