Nothing is stolen without hands
Synovate Comcon Healthcare thinks behavior of certain market players unethical
As it has been known to PharmVestnik, some of the subscribers of the Doctor at Work (Doctor na rabote) website received e-mails from website director Olga Ignatyeva. These e-mails requested that the sender be forwarded on a paid basis the inquiry forms filled in as a result of marketing research conducted by Synovate Comcon Healthcare. These e-mails were sent from the doctornarabote.ru domain address, and the addressees considered the signature authentic. Synovate Comcon Healthcare Director Oleg Feldman was not happy about such an interest to his company. He expressed confidence that attempts to get hold of the information based on the results on another market player’s intellectual activities are fraught with serious legal and reputational risks.
[PharmVestnik # 23, 28/07/2015, p. 1, cont’d p. 2]
Compare and determine
Government discusses drug interchangeability rules
The government is currently in the middle of heated discussions on the drug interchangeability determining rules. The new draft document, which is inaccessible for the public so far, does not contain a detailed description of the mechanisms for this procedure. Most likely, expert opinion will be the decisive criterion for pinpointing interchangeable drugs.
[PharmVestnik # 23, 28/07/2015, p. 2]
The end of “interim acting directors” epoch
Mikhail Murashko to become the first permanent Roszdravnadzor head for a long time
The Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare and Social Development of the Russian Federation (Roszdravnadzor) has finally acquired its completely authorized leader. On 16th of July, Premier Dmitry Medvedev by his own resolution nominated Mikhail Murashko to the post of Roszdravnadzor head. Mr. Murashko has been this agency’s interim acting director since 2013.
[PharmVestnik # 23, 28/07/2015, p. 3]
Rational approach specifics
Participants of business breakfast at Lotte Hotel in Moscow discussed effective pharmaceutical promotion tools
After the 1st half of 2015 ended, experts decided not only to see how accurate their forecasts were regarding pharmacy sales and media advertising expenses in the pharma market, but also determine the tools that would help improve forecasts through the end of the year. On the 21st of July, the Russian Association of Pharmaceutical Marketing (RAPM) in partnership with Aaron Lloyd and Dentsu Aegis Network organized a business breakfast, where not only analysts (which is typical of RAPM gatherings) but also representatives of advertising agencies spoke.
[PharmVestnik # 23, 28/07/2015, pp. 4-5]
Internet to your health
Experts search for global medical web-based project
The Internet Development Institute (IDI) is working on a worldwide web development program for Russia. This project is to include a medical and pharmaceutical section. On the 16th of July, IDI’s Chairman of the Board Herman Klimenko and representatives of the pharmaceutical and medical services market, including PharmVestnik Editor-in-Chief Herman Inozemtsev, discussed potential fundamentals of this project.
[PharmVestnik # 23, 28/07/2015, p. 7]
Hit or miss ruled out
PharmVestnik Editor-in-Chief Herman Inozemtsev visited the launch of Tanakan (Ipsen) contract manufacturing at Raduga Production (ROSTA) site in St. Petersburg and decided to share his ideas on manufacturing localization in Russia.
[PharmVestnik # 23, 28/07/2015, p. 8]
Reaching out for a star
In mid-July, Pharmstandard ex-CEO Igor Krylov took a position of Director for Government Relations and Strategic Development at AstraZeneca Russia&Eurasia. Mr. Krylov has been in search for a new job for more than half a year after he left Pharmstandard. Quite a lot of the market players were surprised at this choice, as Igor Krylov had tempting job offers from other big pharma companies as well.
[PharmVestnik # 23, 28/07/2015, p. 8]
Skolkovo: a foundation targeting commercialization
In July, the “Editorial Fireplace” rubric hosted Vice-President, COO of Biotech and Medical Technologies cluster of Skolkovo foundation Kirill KAEM. He told PharmVestnik Editor-in-Chief Herman Inozemtsev and correspondent Elena Mekshun about the criteria for selecting pilot projects for Skolkovo biomedical section, the cluster’s KPI, and projects that are already a success as well as attempts to push “the wheels of state” towards improving the investment climate.
[PharmVestnik # 23, 28/07/2015, p. 9]
Bayer comes back to Russia
On the 15th of July, Bayer signed the second localization agreement for Russia. It goes about manufacturing contrast agents used in X-ray diagnostics at Polysan site in St. Petersburg. Commercial lots of three agents are scheduled for 2017.
[PharmVestnik # 23, 28/07/2015, p. 10]
We’d rather sell
The Pharma-2020 program has become a major stimulus for the development of the Russian pharma industry. The next step is a state import substitution program. While summing up the first results of foreign players’ localization in Russia, the officials discuss diversified support of local manufacturers. The list of items being discussed includes the long-awaited by the local Pharma “odd man out” regulation, a document on the local manufacturer status as well as subsidies and investment contracts. Experts told PharmVestnik correspondent Elena Mekshun about the most efficient tools currently available to pharma industry players as well as the methods for their evaluation.
[PharmVestnik # 23, 28/07/2015, p. 12]
Hurdle race against time
Logistic service providers to drug developers request for customs privileges
Logistics of clinical trials (CT) materials is a small but extremely important component of drug development and launching procedure. Any error related to noncompliance with storage or transportation conditions, or delay in delivery of the test drugs may not only affect the trial outcomes and entail multimillion losses for the developers but also produce an adverse effect on health of specific patients. In order to minimize risks, the developers turn to specialized logistic companies. Corex CEO Konstantin MELNIKOV talked with PharmVestnik observer Anna Kurskaya about the problems of the Russian logistic services market regarding CT.
[PharmVestnik # 23, 28/07/2015, p. 13]
Most wealthy and attractive
How top pharmacy chains charm customers
The recently published rating of pharmacy chains has not created a stir in the pharma market. For many years running, the largest chains have been leading the ranks trading positions with closest rivals on very rare occasions. These chains are trendsetters for the retail pharmaceutical business development in Russia. It is presently out of fashion to visit pharmacies for purchasing drugs. An “advanced” pharmacy is a universal health complex where people come for health, beauty, good humor, and good talk. PharmVestnik makes its own analysis on what helps the most famous pharmacy chains keep their leadership.
[PharmVestnik # 23, 28/07/2015, pp. 14-15]
Transferring to GMP: problems and prospects
A transfer to the GMP standards was declared in Russia in early 1990s, but real steps in this direction have been made just recently. In the period of 1974 to 2009, a number of documents, methodic recommendations, OSTs, and GOSTs were approved, which to a larger or smaller extent differed from foreign GMP regulations. None of the documents have been harmonized with international GMP guidelines; therefore, they did not lend themselves for making a basis for mutual recognition of products, and could not provide for launching the Russian products to foreign markets. Besides, none of those documents was compulsory in terms of execution; on top of that, a monitoring system for the regulatory documents observance was nonexistent.
[PharmVestnik # 23, 28/07/2015, p. 17]
A Greek quarter
The Russian Pharma withstood financial turbulence in Europe
For the world stock markets, the 2nd quarter passed under the sign of Greece. That country gave ground to doubt its solvency already in April. In the next two months, the European stocks, including the pharma sector, have been pushed down by the “Greek tragedy”. Russia is special. Appreciation of the ruble against US dollar and euro has brought back home confidence in the Russian assets. Investors started buying Russian stocks again, including pharma stocks.
[PharmVestnik # 23, 28/07/2015, pp. 18-19]
Wholesale appetites
Retailers and customers complain about suppliers’ pricing policy
The drug prices monitoring that has been performed in Rostov region since late 2014 by president and government order demonstrated that distributors made the biggest contribution in the rising drug prices at pharmacies. In this connection, Rostov Regional Tariffs Service intends to include the regional pharmaceutical wholesalers in the inspection schedule for 2016.
[PharmVestnik # 23, 28/07/2015, p. 20]
By way of trial
Clinical trials in Russia, Q215
In Q215, the Russian Ministry of Health issued 194 permits for all types of clinical trials, which is commensurable with the number of permits year-on-year.
[PharmVestnik # 23, 28/07/2015, p. 23]
The star named the Sun
Report on suntan segment of the Russian out-of-pocket market, 2014
The Russian suntan cosmetics market grew by 3% in 2014. The market growth in value terms was driven by price hikes, with the mean price in the segment going up 14%.
