The pharmaceutical industry in Turkey, whose services are currently in danger of unsustainability and who attempts to cope with the results of the shrinkage, tries to tell in a last struggle the unfavorable effects of the price reductions, which have become regular, and the unilaterally imposed discounts on the industry and on the patients. The situation was like this not only in 2011, but also in 2010. However the pharmaceutical industry would not like to talk these.

We would like to talk about investments, which would improve the quality the service we provide to our patients and which would elevate our industry to higher levels in the global ranking. Let me give some examples on what we, as the innovative pharma sector, would like to talk about and what we would like to deal with:

For example, we would like to talk about what the Government can do to improve the investment environment and how the innovativeness will record a bounce by university-industry cooperation. We would like to discuss how the drug manufacturing capacity of Turkey may be used in the most effective way, how the technology transfer will be accelerated, and how the most innovative drugs may be presented to our patients in the fastest way.

Every year the innovative pharmaceutical companies allocate a major share of their global revenues, as high as 16.5%, to R&D activities. The annual investment amount, which is made globally by the innovative pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies only for R&D, is about 120 billion dollars. The interest of the investors in the developing countries is also constantly increasing. Today, all countries are competing to receive the possible highest share from these investments.

Turkey has no luxury to lag behind in this race. Such a country like Turkey, which has established for itself significant social and economic development targets especially for 2023, the 100th anniversary of our Republic, cannot lag behind other countries in a sector having the strategic significance and the potential for being the leading power of the economic development, such as the innovative pharmaceutical industry.

Turkey’s population of approximately 75 millions, strong and dynamic economy, advanced infrastructure, and the fact that it has one of the few drug industries of the world in terms of size, actually are the points which increase the attractiveness of our country for investments. If we can put our potential into action, it is possible that our country draws more R&D and manufacturing investments much more than it draws today, and possesses a pharmaceutical industry which produces and exports high technology products with high added value. The strongest and most dynamic economy and the largest pharmaceutical industry of the Middle East, North Africa, Balkans, Caucasus and Middle Asia regions is in Turkey. If you also add the qualified human resources and the geographic location advantage to these, it appears very clearly that there is no reason for our country not to be a regional center in the pharmaceutical industry. Among our members, there are companies who see this fact and move their regional centers to Turkey. I believe that these examples will increase in the coming period.

So why is our industry in difficulties? Why could not we become a regional center yet?

Because, although there are positive developments experienced in the recent years, the investment environment in the pharmaceutical industry is still moving one step further one step backward.

Because innovativeness is not promoted and supported in Turkey.

Because there is no sufficient stability in our industry, the policies are continuously changing.

Because, instead of establishing and applying long-term structural reforms, which will enable us to use our resources in the healthcare field in the most effective way, the only focus is the reduction of the drug prices and it is believed that the resource problems will be overcome in this way .

In spite of all difficulties experienced, the innovative pharmaceutical industry would like to focus on the future. As Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (AIFD), we are in an intense effort to draw more investment to our country, and to ensure that our pharmaceutical industry achieves a structure, which accomplishes R&D and high technology manufacturing in Turkey, which may conduct large scale export, and which favorably contributes to our foreign trade balances.

We continue our studies to make it possible that our country will become an attraction center for the investments of innovative pharmaceutical industry for high technology-based manufacturing and R&D. We aim to determine our industrial strategic superiorities by the projects, which will be conducted by the cooperation of the government and the pharmaceutical industry, and to determine the current conditions of the investment environment and the legislation and infrastructure points, which require to be developed.

Our target is to prepare a report from the studies we have been conducting, which highlights our proposals relating to the strategies required for positioning of Turkey as a regional center in terms of investments of innovative pharmaceutical industry for high technology-based manufacturing and R&D. Our greatest desire is that the content of the report to be prepared be enriched by the opinions and the inputs of all the stakeholders in the industry and the road map, which will lead the Turkish pharmaceutical industry to 2023 be drawn.

AIFD and its members will continue to work devotedly to ensure development of the Turkish pharmaceutical industry, enhancement of the service quality in a sustainable manner, and improvement of the access of our patients to drugs.

In this process, we have only one call to our Government: Clear the path of the pharmaceutical industry and let’s all walk together to the future!

8 February 2012