Healthcare Summit returns: healthcare’s twin challenges of innovation and sustainability at centre stage

What is the future of Italian healthcare and that of pharmaceutical and technological innovation with artificial intelligence knocking more and more on the door of the health service? And how can the SSN tackle the greatest challenge, namely that of remaining economically sustainable by guaranteeing care for all? These and other questions will be answered on 27 November by the Healthcare Summit, Sole24Ore’s flagship event now in its fourteenth edition, dedicated to institutional and strategic debate on the future of healthcare. An appointment that, every year, brings together the top management of the healthcare system and the pharmaceutical and biomedical sector and the main public and private stakeholders. Among the scheduled speeches is also that of the Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci and the undersecretary Marcello Gemmato.

The efforts of the latest budget manoeuvre – now being examined by the Senate – which adds new resources, bringing the health fund to a record 143 billion by 2026, may not be enough. Staff shortages, waiting lists and hiccuping services between the various areas of Italy are the first emergency for citizens. But then there is also the innovative ecosystem of the pharmaceutical and biomedical industrial chain to be preserved with its wealth of investments and know-how. At the Healthcare Summit 2025, the debate on innovation finds concrete expression in the visions of the companies present, which outline the transformations needed to make the system more competitive, fairer, and prepared for the challenges of the coming years. “Investing in health is not a cost, it is the most powerful engine of growth: a bolder intervention by the Government is needed in the manoeuvre to make Italy attractive on the pharmaceutical innovation front,” explains Mario Sturion, managing director Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine Italia. A company that produces 4 billion tablets in Italy (98% exported) and that is also among the first payers of the payback that weighs more and more on companies’ turnovers. For Lilly, the priority is the readiness of the system: making innovative therapies truly accessible requires aligned diagnostic and organisational paths and rapid regional decisions that are consistent with national ones. “The new European rules,’ stresses Federico Villa, associate vice-president governmental & public affairs Eli Lilly, ‘represent an opportunity to accelerate Hta, overcome the logic of spending silos, and favour policies that reward therapeutic value, making Italy more attractive to research and investment’. On the regulatory front, Astellas also intervenes, pointing out the need for a clear regulatory framework capable of supporting the arrival of new treatments. “To guarantee patients valuable therapies we need innovation and clear rules,” notes general manager Fulvio Berardo, reiterating how streamlined and stable regulations can reduce inequalities and boost investment. Among the leading players in primary prevention is Dompé, which focuses on entirely Italian production and research and an approach based on solid scientific evidence. The company promotes a new category, NutraScience, a bridge between drugs and supplements, and invests in building a health culture that puts the doctor back at the centre of prevention paths. “Primary prevention is an unavoidable commitment, especially in critical areas such as cardiovascular diseases, the main cause of mortality in the country,” points out Michela Bagnasco, medical affairs director-primary & specialty care, Dompé. “In this perspective, nutraceuticals assume relevance only if supported by clinical evidence. Alexion, on the other hand, brings to the Summit the perspective of rare diseases, considered a paradigm for innovation. The company – part of the AstraZeneca group – points out that investment, early access and public-private collaboration are essential elements of a competitive ecosystem. With growing clinical trials, early access programmes and initiatives beyond the drug such as Women in Rare, Anna Chiara Rossi, vice president & general manager Alexion emphasises “the need for a system that enhances research and timeliness, simplifies access and reduces territorial inequalities”.

And among the challenges to be taken up is also that of the new frontier of digital therapies taken up by Theras, an Italian biomedical company that has just developed one to manage obesity, the pandemic of our times, through an app with ‘digital dosage’ and evaluated with a large clinical trial: ‘Bringing innovation into healthcare means transforming clinical evidence and technology into real solutions for people. Italy can play a leading role in digital therapies,’ warns Federico Ferrari, CEO of Theras. Lastly, the great challenge of Ai in healthcare, which is already seeing concrete applications such as those successfully developed by H2H Digital Solutions of the Rekeep group: “Ai already optimises the use of operating theatres and supports Cups with voice agents, increasing efficiency: solutions that improve healthcare operations in a context of limited resources,” says CEO Francesco Magro. While for Antonio Murgo, Area vice president Salesforce, which develops solutions already deployed by more than 70 healthcare and pharma companies to make trials more efficient, personalise care and offer digital services, ‘Ai takes healthcare beyond digitalisation, enabling an ecosystem in which citizens, patients and facilities collaborate for smoother, more effective and more accountable care’.