Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Sunday held a teleconference with top executives of pharmaceutical companies who are at the forefront in the fight against Covid-19, as well as experts who specialize in policy, research and investments in health-related sciences.
The aim of the meeting was the formulation of a Road Map with actionable recommendations for the development of a strong and competitive biopharma sector in Greece, given that biopharma ranks among the sectors of the 21st century that can offer sizable added value. A biopharma sector based in research and innovation is the main objective of this initiative, as it can greatly contribute to economic growth, while leveraging the strategic position of the country, its human capital, infrastructure and best practices implemented abroad.
During the conversation, the participants, some of whom are experienced in investments in Greece, pointed out the talent and the high quality of our country’s human capital, stressing the need to further improve the framework in order to leverage the country’s comparative advantages. They pointed out that they have found open lines of communication with this government and the Prime Minister’s office, stating that it is necessary to implement reforms in licensing procedures, for countering red-tape, for improving the technological infrastructure and for the promotion of tax reforms.
The participants also reviewed the strategic actions required to develop research and production units in Greece, to attract investment capital, to connect this emerging industry with academia and to create educational structures which offer a high level of specialization in the business administration of biopharma companies. In this context, it was stressed that the development of model research centers and an ecosystem of competitive businesses in Greece can contribute to the reversal of the brain drain phenomenon.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed during the teleconference that “We have laid the foundations for a growth model that is not necessarily based on the traditional comparative advantages you always associated with Greece, for example tourism. We’ ve done a lot to attract high tech companies in Greece”. He added that “what I’ve been looking for is a specific Road Map with actionable recommendations. In terms of what we can do to leverage our comparative advantages and make innovation-based biopharma a critical sector for the growth of the country. We certainly have the willingness and the intention to go down that path. I think that we are pretty good at driving through the necessary reforms once we have identified them”. He also stressed that “We have already done a significant body of work in spite of the pandemic in making Greece more attractive for foreign investment”.
The Prime Minister pointed out that “When Covid first struck we started doing some research to identify who could actually help us manage this unique healthcare crisis. I was stunned by how many people, Greeks, people of Greek origin, people with some sort of relation to Greece we were able to identify and reach out to. So, in this sort of global war for talent, I think we have today with us a fantastic group of extremely successful people in the biotech industry, some of whom have played a leading role in the fight against Covid”.
The teleconference was attended by Noubar Afeyan (Chairman of Moderna, CEO of Flagship Pioneering), Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas (Harvard Medical School, President of ESETEK), Albert Bourla (Pfizer Chairman and CEO), Eric Cantor (Managing Director of Moelis & Company), Nicholas Galakatos (Global Head of Life Sciences at Blackstone Life Sciences), Emil D. Kakkis (CEO of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical), Costis Maglaras (Dean of Columbia Business School), Peter R. Orszag (CEO of Financial Advisory at Lazard), Sir Menelas Pangalos (Executive Vice President at AstraZeneca), Stelios Papadopoulos (Chairman of the Board, Biogen, Exelixis, Regulus Therapeutics and co-founder of Eucrates Biomedical), Vangelis Vergetis (CEO Intelligencia and President of Eucrates Biomedical), Michel Vounatsos (CEO of Biogen), George Yancopoulos (President of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals).
On behalf of the government the teleconference was attended by Niki Kerameus, Minister of Education and Religious Affairs, Minister of Health Vassilis Kikilias, Deputy Minister of Development and Investments Nikos Papathanasis, Deputy Minister of Development Christos Dimas, Deputy Minister of Health Vasilis Kontozamanis, Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Akis Skertsos, Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister and Government Spokesman Stelios Petsas, Secretary General to the Prime Minister Grigoris Dimitriadis and Chief Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister Alexis Patelis.
The Prime Minister’s introductory statement
Stelio, thank you. Thank you very much. It is such a pleasure to see you all via Zoom. I have reached out to quite a few of you during this extremely tumultuous year. And I would really much like to thank you again for making time to help us make the transition from a country that as you point out, Stelios, is not a meaningful participant in the global biotechnology sector, nor a leader in basic research biomedicine, to one that actually can and hopefully will play a leading role in these fields.
When Covid first struck and we started doing some research to identify who could actually help us manage this unique healthcare crisis, I was stunned by how many people, Greeks, people of Greek origin, people with some sort of relation to Greece we were able to identify and reach out to. So, in this sort of global war for talent, I think we have today with us a fantastic group of extremely successful people in the biotech industry, some of whom have played a leading role in the fight against Covid. Noubar, Albert, George made us really really proud for the work that you have done. But as you pointed out Stelios (Papadopoulos) the real challenge is do we move from where we are today, where we essentially have a vibrant domestic pharmaceutical industry, but this is not really cutting-edge in terms of R&D, to an industry that is innovation-based and that can play a leading role in the emergent biopharma sector. This is essentially the challenge. And of course we are far from experts in this.
What I am looking for is a specific Road Map with actionable recommendations. In terms of what we can do to leverage our comparative advantages and make innovation-based biopharma a critical sector for the growth of the country. We certainly have the willingness and the intention to go down that path. I think that we are pretty good at driving through the necessary reforms once we have identified them.
We have already done a significant body of work, in spite of the pandemic, in making Greece more attractive for foreign investment. Let me just highlight a few of the policies that we have put in place as far as the domestic pharma industry is concerned. We found a way of reducing the clawback. And in exchange for new investment that the industry is going to make. In Greece we have made the tax treatment of R&D expenditure that much more attractive. We are beginning to cut taxes on labour, which I know is particularly important for those of you who actually have established a presence in Greece. We are giving significant incentives for people who have left the country to return to Greece. Greek expats or even foreigners who want to set up their business in Greece. So one of our main goals is to bring back talent that left during the years of the crisis to Greece. If Covid proved one thing, I think, it is that you can work from anywhere. And why not work from a country that is beautiful, safe, well connected and that gives the right, the framework of incentives to create an ecosystem in the innovation-based biopharma sector.
Let me conclude by saying I am really confident about the prospects of the country. I think we’ ve dealt with Covid much better than most countries. We’ve had our difficulties in the second wave but the cases come down substantially. We are still in a lockdown and we will probably stay in a lockdown until the beginning of January. We have a very detailed vaccination plan.
We have laid the foundations for a growth model that is not necessarily based on the traditional comparative advantages you always associated with Greece, for example tourism. We’ ve done a lot to attract high tech companies in Greece. You are probably aware of some emblematic investments that have been announced. And innovation-based biopharma would be another sector where we haven’t done much but is certainly a personal focus for me and I will do whatever it takes to make sure that we can grow this sector. It would be a pity given the talent that we have of people who care about Greece, in one capacity or another, it would be a real pity not to leverage that. So I’ ll stop here Stelios and I will let you coordinate the meeting going forward.
Again, the idea will be to have this as a high level steering group that could meet via Zoom once every three months. Of course you all have an invitation to come to Greece during the summer. Hopefully by that time it will be much easier to travel and then we will make sure that our team working with Stelios can come up with a piece of work that focuses on the detail of what needs to happen with actionable recommendations. Again thank you all very much for participating in the conference, I really appreciate it.
