An impact on the Tuscan economy estimated at 400 million, and destined to grow to 600 million in a few years. This is the incidence that one of the global pharmaceutical giants has on the regional GDP. Eli Lilly, with a Tuscan presence established more than half a century ago, is turning its Sesto Fiorentino site – which currently employs 500 workers – into its global reference hub for insulin production. An IRPET (Regional Institute for Tuscany’s Economic Planning) survey clarified the importance of the American group not only for the Tuscan pharmaceuticals sector (one of the compartments with the highest potential) but for the region’s economy as a whole: the group accounts for 1% of the Regional GDP, and employs 14% of the region’s pharmaceutical workforce. The investigation indicates that, for every job created at Eli Lilly in 2010, there would have been an additional 5 jobs created in satellite activities; this ratio is destined to grow to 6.3 jobs by 2018.
During the past ten years, when the group specialized the Florentine plant to produce insulin, investments totaled €400 million, bringing the turnover to 755 million in 2013, and making Sesto Fiorentino the production hub for biotechnologically derived insulin exported to 54 countries. As reported in the weekly Affari & Finanza [Business & Finance] journal, supplies for the Chinese market were started in Decemeber, and are forecasted to grow to an annual 16 million insulin cartridges by 2016. The Sesto Fiorentino expansion towards other markets was made possible by the strengthening of the production site, that already led to the generation of a second production line in 2014, and should lead to the start of a new line this year.
But Eli Lilly also invested in its plant’s energy sufficiency with through investments in a cogeneration system with a 2.7 MW capacity that produced 95 million kWh of electric power from methane between 2007 and 2013, and photovoltaic pans that produce 210,000 kWh yearly.
In patnership with IlSole24Ore
Other news you may find interesting:
30 September 2014
Pharmaceuticals, the first steps towards a Tuscan maxi-hub
A €6 billion per year turnover; a strong vocation for exports; numerous centers of excellence, such as the Scuola Normale in Pisa, the IMT in Lucca and the Scuola Superiore S.Anna in Pisa; large international groups such as Glaxo and Eli Lilly
21 july 2014
Great chances for business growth from the USA-Tuscany axis
The confirmation of GE Oil&Gas commitment in Florence and Massa, the strengthening of Eli Lilly in Sesto Fiorentino, the centrality of the plants near Arezzo for Power One and its leadership in the inverters used for renewable energy
17 june 2014
Eli Lilly strengthens its position in Sesto Fiorentino
The multinational pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly triples its commitment in Sesto Fiorentino, where it has been present for over fifty years and where, in 2009, it specialized its new factory in the production of biotechnological insulin cartridges, and other administration methods