Juliette Gagliardi
Junior Researcher
Pharmaceutical industry in Italy - Statistics & Facts
Italy is one of the leading pharmaceutical producers in Europe. In 2023, the sector reached a production value of over 52 billion euros, after a steady increase during the last decade. As of 2023, companies operating in the pharmaceutical sector had overall about 70,000 employees, the majority of whom highly educated and skilled. These companies totaled net revenues of almost 35.5 billion euros in 2022, including revenues of the cosmetic industry, and contributed to the country's economy with a value added of approximately 11.9 billion euros in 2023.
International trade
The Italian pharmaceutical production is extremely export-oriented, as the dependency of the sector on foreign markets has increased in the last years. The proof lies in figures reported by international trade institutions reporting that the export value of Italian pharmaceuticals reached approximately 49 billion euros in 2023, a value three times as high as the one registered in 2011. As of 2021, the main destinations of these products were Belgium, the United States, and Germany. Nevertheless, Italy is also very dependent on pharmaceutical imports, which in 2023 were slightly over 38.4 billion euros.Research and development
Research and development are of paramount importance in the pharmaceutical sector. This is very clear to companies active in this field. In Italy, investments in R&D in the pharmaceutical sector reached a total of two billion in 2023. In 2021, there were almost 6,000 employees working in pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in R&D in Italy.The Italian pharmaceutical company Menarini
Among the leading pharmaceutical producers in Italy, Menarini reached revenues of over four billion euros in 2022, the highest figure ever recorded by the company. During the same year the revenue reported by Chiesi, one of its direct competitors, amounted to 2.7 billion euros. After starting the internationalization journey in the 1960s, Menarini consolidated its presence abroad in the 1990s. The effort to internationalize the company paid off: today, over three quarters of Menarini's revenues are generated outside of Italy.
