Russia adopts list of medicines to be made locally from 2015

2010-07-20

The government of Russia on 12 July approved a list of 57 “strategically important” medicines which it wants to be produced locally from 2015 onwards, so as to “increase affordability of medicines for the treatment of common diseases”.
According to health and social development minister Tatyana Golikova, the list includes, among others, medicines from such therapeutic areas as oncology, cardiovascular diseases, hepatitis B and C, Gaucher’s disease and multiple sclerosis, as well as new antibiotics, anti-tumour, anti-inflammatory medications, and anaesthetics.
According to earlier comments by industry and trade minister Viktor Khristenko, the government aims to support the process of developing local pharmaceutical production with a programme of incentives for local and foreign drug makers worth €3.1bn until 2012, which is roughly two thirds of the total estimated cost. So far, 200 projects have been included in the scheme. The objective is to increase the share of local producers in total drug sales from 20% at the moment to 25% by 2012 and 50% by 2020. Furthermore, Russian pharma exports are to increase eight-fold during this period and the share of innovative products in local drug makers’ portfolio is to reach 60%.
The Russian Association of International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers estimates that global pharma firms are prepared to spend a combined €795m on establishing production in Russia.