Coronavirus: Pharmaceutical industry feels ‘resilient’ to crisis

Coronavirus: Pharmaceutical industry feels ‘resilient’ to crisis
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Nine out of ten Belgian pharmaceutical companies have expressed optimism over the fate of their sector after the coronavirus crisis.

35% of companies in the industry believe economic recovery will occur this year, according to a survey of over 200 companies by the Federation for Chemical Industries and Life Sciences (essenscia). 54% of the companies believe the recovery will happen next year.

On the other hand, 8% of the sector expects the impact to last for years and 3% voiced concern that the sector will not be able to recover.

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The industry "has not escaped the global economic impact of the corona crisis either, although temporary unemployment in the sector, at 17.1%, is much lower than the industrial average in our country," essenscia said. 

In fact, while 4 out of 10 companies are anticipating a decline in turnover due to coronavirus, over 10% are expecting a profit.

"The strong economic performance in 2019 - with almost 1,500 extra jobs and a record amount of investment in innovation - should make the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors resilient to the impact of the corona crisis," the federation said.

"In any case, the majority of the sector companies advocate an economic recovery in which everyone can get back to work as quickly as possible in a safe manner on the basis of a well-considered exit strategy," essenscia added.

Such an exit strategy would "include industry as a key lever to get the economy moving again, an international approach within a European single market (...), and targeted economic measures."

Jason Spinks

The Brussels Times


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