Russian government announces list of 57 medicines to be made locally from 2015

2010-08-03

The government of Russia announced details of the 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”. Most of the drugs included in the list are those used in highly specialised areas of medicine. Oncology drugs constitute the largest group (15 agents), followed by drugs used in HIV infections (10 agents), anaesthesiology (4 agents), but there are also drugs used in rare diseases, e.g. dornase alfa in cystic fibrosis or bortezomib in multiple myeloma.

As Pharma Poland News reported on a previous occasion the Russian government aims to support the process of developing local pharmaceutical production with a programme of incentives for local and foreign drug makers. According to the Russian Association of International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers estimates global pharma firms are prepared to spend a combined €795m on establishing production in Russia.





This is not the first time the Russian government is trying to support its local production. Under the Russian government’s Programme Pharma 2020, domestic production is to account for 50% of all medicines available on the Russian market in 2020, up from about 20-25% at the moment. Generally it is very pro-domestic and some other examples of such policy include implementation of 15% price preference has been granted for domestic manufacturers which participate in state tenders for drugs or much greater supervision and inspection over foreign manufacturers. On the other hand, the Pharma 2020 plan may be also read as a message for foreign drug makers to invest in production facilities in the country (and local R&D). The government is also planning to encourage foreign companies to build factories in Russia.


Monika Stefanczyk
Head Pharmaceutical Market Analyst
PMR Publications