The health industry has the drugs for growth

From the reader. Prime minister Petteri Orpon The Kasvuriihi working group appointed by (kok) collects proposals to accelerate economic growth to be implemented in the mid-spring rush. Chairman of the group Risto Murto has stated quite correctly: without growing companies, there is no growth.

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the few industries that have increased their investments in Finland in recent years. Over the course of ten years Bayer has invested a total of 950 million erin in Finland and paid well over a billion in corporate taxes.

As a driver of the national economy

The sales value of the contraceptive products we manufacture in Turku is over one billion euros annually. It is almost the same as the value of one cruise ship under construction at a neighboring shipyard.

Bavarian, yes Orion’s The global sales of the prostate cancer drug developed in cooperation have also exceeded one billion euros this year. In the future, we will see domestic innovations in the pharmaceutical industry traveling from Finland to the world every year worth two cruise ships.

Aging, the increase of chronic diseases and the development of technology support the global growth prospects of the health sector. Sweden and Denmark have done successful work in the Medicon Valley Alliance project, where universities, industry and the public sector on both sides of the Juutinrauma Bridge are in close cooperation.

in Denmark Novo Nordisk has already become the engine of the national economy. Finland also has the opportunity to participate in the growth of the health industry.

State research and development investments intended to accelerate economic growth should be directed even more to support the development of the health sector. One concrete proposal is to establish one-stop services in Finland according to the Danish and Swedish model to facilitate clinical drug trials.

Comprehensive, digital health information is still our strength, but when it comes to utilizing it, we lag behind our competitors. A centralized system would increase Finland’s attractiveness as an international research environment in the field.

Products with a high degree of processing

Even in the midst of austerity pressures, incentives for conducting research and utilizing new medical treatments should remain in health care.

Innovative medicines and even more effective treatments increase working and functional years in our aging population. At the same time, they bring significant cost benefits to public healthcare.

A special feature of the health sector is that the vitality of the public social and health sector affects the realization of private investments. Short-sighted cuts in welfare areas can later turn out to be costly mistakes.

Contraceptives, luxury cruise ships and cancer drugs are evidence of Finnish know-how – the ability to innovate and develop products and services with a high processing value, which return to the state coffers in the form of tax revenues, investments and jobs.

Now is the time to raise Finnish excellence in the health sector to the recognition it deserves.

Jannika Kaikkonen

director of social relations, Bayer Finland