Statement by the President of the Government of Spain following his visit to the Novartis production plant in La Almunia de Doña Godina (Zaragoza)

Zaragoza

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF SPAIN, PEDRO SÁNCHEZ

Good morning.

Having just arrived from Brussels, we wanted to be here with the workers and with the management of the company Novartis, whom I would like to thank first of all for their commitment to Spain, their commitment to the territory, and above all, on a day as important as today, World Cancer Day, their commitment to research, to innovation and to the eradication of one of the main diseases that affects many of our fellow citizens.

I was just reading some figures my colleagues in the cabinet gave me. Before the end of the day, more than 700 people will be diagnosed with cancer in Spain; 316 people will die of this disease, that's 13 deaths every hour; and globally, one in three women, and one in two men, will suffer from some type of cancerous disease in 2030.

I believe that, first, it is important to state this reality. But secondly, and most importantly, I would like to convey to the media - whom, of course, I would like to thank for their presence - the enormous hope I am taking away from my visit to a Novartis centre, which I believe is a pioneer and a world leader in the fight against cancer.

It is true that we are fighting an unequal battle against an implacable enemy, but I also believe that from the human point of view, from the emotional point of view, shall we say, regarding our families, our loved ones, we all know someone who is fighting cancer; and it is also an unequal battle from the economic point of view, because in Spain alone we are investing more than €12 billion a year in cancer treatment and diagnosis.

I believe that although we are, indeed, in an unequal battle against an implacable enemy, as I said, which is cancer, we must respond to it with the same sense of urgency as we do, for example, to climate emergencies, natural disasters, and even wars. I believe that we must convey this message of hope because we have an exceptional ally - which we already had, by the way, during the COVID-19 pandemic - in science, innovation, research and, of course, the pharmacological industry, the pharmaceutical industry.

I believe this industry is an exceptional ally, and that thanks to science, innovation, research and the pharmaceutical industry, in just half a century we have been able to double, no more and no less, the cancer survival rate. We have achieved a survival rate of over 99% in women diagnosed with breast cancer, and we have reduced the incidence of lung cancer in men by almost 7%.

So thanks to these advances in epidemiology, in prevention, we have also managed to prevent more than 330,000 deaths in the last three decades. So today more than ever, on World Cancer Day, there is clearly hope, and it is also clear that living with this disease is not an individual struggle - it never has been - but is a collective struggle, and reducing its incidence and mortality is, without doubt, again a collective task we must undertake from both the private sector and the public sector.

This is a task that is incumbent upon us and challenges us all. And, in fact, we are already rising to the challenge. We are nowadays nurturing a virtuous circle that unites the strength of the public sector with the entrepreneurial spirit of companies like Novartis, making human capital, science and innovation the core of this collaboration.

We are also committed to scholarships, to promoting public universities in our country, and to vocational training, regarding which you know that the Government of Spain, and particularly the Minister for Education of this country, Pilar Alegría, has made a special effort. And then there are the resources we are pouring into improving public health, undoubtedly enabling more clinical trials with innovative drugs to be carried out, such as those being tested at the Miguel Servet Hospital here in Zaragoza.

So thank you, Patrick, for having confidence in this model, and for having confidence in Spain. Thank you for maintaining more than 1,500 jobs, mostly occupied by women and men; and above all, than you for supporting young talent, with whom I have had the opportunity to have a brief talk; and thank you, of course, for promoting research, with 300 clinical studies already underway; and for doing so, moreover, by revitalising Spain as a country full of opportunities that reach far beyond the big cities, as evidenced by your presence here, in the heart of Aragon, and in the province of Salamanca, where your company is also present.

With these figures, we are more than justified in doing what we are doing, which is supporting the pharmaceutical sector, a sector that accounts for a huge 1.5% of our country's GDP, creating more than 36,000 direct jobs - as we have seen here today - for people with an average age of 35 years who are hugely enthusiastic about the work they do, who are committed to research and to the fight against cancer, and who, of course, always have eyes full of hope when they begin a professional career.

I repeat: 36,000 direct jobs and 150,000 indirect jobs, and it is already the fourth most important export activity. It is a Spanish economy which, as you know, is changing the way it is growing and is increasingly exporting abroad, not only to Europe, but also, as I was told, to other parts of the world, including Japan and South Korea; in short, to places that until now were not among the main export destinations for the Spanish economy.

I would now like to make a brief digression, because I think it is important to talk a little about the employment data released today. Because in a context as difficult as the one Europe is currently experiencing, with a war in Ukraine - as well as a war in the Middle East and the sound of the drums of trade wars being waged by major powers - you will allow me to say that the employment figures we have seen in a month that is always complicated, January, are particularly encouraging, because we have just seen the lowest unemployment rate for this month in the last 17 years.

We have created around 470,000 jobs in the last year, and the forecast for this year and next year is that we will create more than 400,000 jobs per year, in 2025 and 2026; and that, therefore, we will continue to be one of the main economies generating employment and economic growth in Europe and in the world, particularly in Europe, with Spain's growth today accounting for around 40% of total European growth. This is the situation in Spain.

And it is partly thanks to the commitment of such cutting-edge industries so necessary for the well-being and prosperity of our country as the pharmaceutical sector.

And I also want to say this: it is a sector in which we believe and which we love. I would like to say that I will always be very grateful to you, as President of the Government that had to manage a pandemic in this country, because together with science you gave us the solution to the terrible COVID-19 virus.

Moreover, this sector has an extraordinary platform in Spain that we are making even more attractive. And we are doing so, moreover, by taking investment in R&D&I to levels it has not had for a very long time; in fact, I believe to a previously unseen level: €22 billion in R&D&I, a 50% increase on six years ago, to promote this innovation, this research, to retain and also to attract research talent that in other moments left this country. We are also increasing the supply of vocational training: we have increased the number of vocational training places by more than 300,000 in recent years. We are revaluing vocational training, not just adapting it to the needs of companies, but also updating it annually, and of course with more resources, digitising it as well.

And we are doing so by committing to a strategic project that I believe is one of the most important we have been able to implement thanks to European funds, which is the PERTE for cutting-edge health, endowed with an incredible €2 billion, 80% of which has already been committed and which stimulates what we have called public-private collaboration, and which in the case of the pharmaceutical industry is, I believe, one of the most eloquent examples of this collaboration.

We are making this firm commitment because we have a set of unique conditions. For those who do not know, we are Europe's leader in clinical trials for cancer treatments and advanced therapies. Our research community activity is intense, and we are in the top 10 globally in scientific publications on cancer. And we have the jewel in the crown of our welfare state, which is an extraordinary public health system, a key factor, among other things, in making Spain today the leading country in terms of life expectancy in the whole of the EU.

I think this is all impressive data. I think they are the kind of rankings any country would like to have, and above all to shine in, the data speaking of what we have always wanted to be and now are: a country devoted to science, with science and, above all, a country that walks hand in hand with science to build prosperity.

I conclude this brief intervention. We live in times when stating the obvious can seem revolutionary. The obvious thing is that science saves lives, and superstition does not. Science saves lives.

It is obvious that despite the fact that we are facing a fearsome adversary that destroys lives and families, cancer, there is a lot of hope and a lot of progress is being made, and I think that is what we need to emphasise.

And another obvious thing is that it will be the generation of young people that I have seen here, of researchers, of workers, of women workers, from many, many disciplinary fields - whom some people always insist on undervaluing - who are obviously going to win this battle.

So I believe that we can all be proud to contribute, each in our own area of responsibility, to this goal that is full of humanity; to contribute for those who are suffering from cancer today, and obviously for those who have been taken by this disease and who are very much present in our minds today.

So thank you to the entire Novartis team for nurturing that hope. And, above all, thank you for this inspiring visit so full of talent, enthusiasm and hope, which I believe that on a day like today, World Cancer Day, is what we must remember and reclaim.

That is all, thank you very much.

(Transcript edited by the State Secretariat for Communication)

Original speech in Spanish