// Regulatory & Legal
Drug marking project participants wait for final process description
Pursuant to the bill approved by the State Duma in the first reading, pharma manufacturers are entitled to producing drugs without control information symbols on the packaging until 31 December 2018. It means that all market players, i.e. manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, have 13 months left to turn words into symbols. Participants of the pilot drug marking project share their points on whether it is possible.
[PharmVestnik # 39, 28/11/2017, p. 2]
// Regulatory & Legal
A biobank with human tissue samples is being created in Russia
Moscow Skolkovo Technology Park is now the home of a special-purpose lab that for the past three years has been collecting human tissue samples to set up a biobank. The biobank founder is the National BioService.
[PharmVestnik # 39, 28/11/2017, p. 4]
// Pharma Retailing
ProApteka to open pharmacy outlets at Moscow Central Railway Ring stations
ProApteka LLC has won the bidding for the right to lease sales premises at Moscow Central Railway Ring stations, and will open there six ZdravCity pharmacy outlets. ZdravCity is an online order service run by CV Protek. The main purpose of this project is building of brand awareness. If online drug sales are legalized, these pharmacy outlets may become online order dispatch points. According to the company spokesperson, no offline pharmacy opening on a mass scale is planned. Other market players do not consider this idea promising.
[PharmVestnik # 39, 28/11/2017, p. 5]
// Monitoring – EAEU
EAEC to start testing common information system in December at the earliest
The Eurasian Economic Commission (EAEC) announced that the development of a common information system required for drug registration on the EAEU common market is nearing completion. The system testing is scheduled for this December. Certain experts believe that this timeframe is too optimistic given the fact that the system launch deadline has been continuously extended.
[PharmVestnik # 39, 28/11/2017, p. 11]
// Monitoring – EAEU
Will Eurasian legislation solve problems unsolvable for national regulators?
According to experts, the issue of low availability of special drug dosage forms for children is of a global nature. All countries have very few drugs officially approved for pediatric use. As a result, a large percentage of prescriptions are off-label. The reason is a very small number of clinical trials in children, especially newborns. This problem was on the agenda of the 6th international conference “Clinical Trials in Russia”.
[PharmVestnik # 39, 28/11/2017, p. 12]
// Health Management
Hepatitis C morbidity rate in Russia nears an epidemic
Experts estimate the demand for funding to treat chronic hepatitis C patients in Russia at about 128B RUB. The number of infected Russians is at least 3M people, with 50—60 thsd newly diagnosed patients added annually. However, the Patient Register includes just 8% of the total number of those infected; of them, only half are covered with treatment. In early November, Sochi hosted an all-Russia conference of infectious disease specialists, with one of special events covering epidemiology issues associated with hepatitis C. Director of the Center for Social Economy Ruslan DREVAL, one of the event moderators, speaks about why all attempts to decrease the number of infected with hepatitis C have failed so far.
[PharmVestnik # 39, 28/11/2017, p. 16]
// Health Management
A Novosibirsk-based company joined TB management
According to the Ministry of Health plans, Russia must do away with tuberculosis by 2030. Social agencies will participate in the disease management actions, too. One of the challenges is severe adverse effects of treatment. The inhaler developed by Novosibirsk-based Personal Medication & Health Management (PM&HM) group targets this issue. To help launch this product to the market, the company attracted investment from the Internet Initiatives Development Fund.
[PharmVestnik # 39, 28/11/2017, p. 19]
// Insight
Rating of Russian pharmacy chains, Q1-317
This rating is based on RNC Pharma data. The 3rd quarter was eventful from the Russian pharmaceutical retailers’ perspective. This market segment saw a variety of deals, some of them large. Disputes resumed on specific regulatory issues, in particular, on the prospects of selling pharmaceuticals at supermarkets. The analysts see clear signs of the Russian pharma market stagnation.
[PharmVestnik # 39, 28/11/2017, pp. 22-24]
