Promomed Group will expand the production of pharmaceutical substances for innovative drugs

Promomed 18 June 2022

At the Biokhimik plant in Saransk the team plans to launch the country's largest production of domestic pharmaceutical substances. In the future, Russia will be able to export its own innovative drugs with no less success than oil, gas or nuclear energy.


This statement was made by Petr Bely, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Promomed Group, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). In an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta (RG), the interviewee spoke about import substitution and the prospects for the development of the domestic pharmaceutical industry in modern conditions.

Petr Alexandrovich, in April, at a visiting meeting of the Council on Intellectual Property of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, held in Saransk, you stated that despite the sanctions there would be no shortage of drugs in Russia and that manufacturers are ready to provide the domestic market with the necessary drugs. What is the basis for such optimism? Which groups of drugs are in the most favorable situation today, and in which areas, in your opinion, should our pharmaceutical companies step up their activities?

Petr Bely: Today Russia produces a sufficient amount of drug products for all most important nosologies to fully meet the needs of healthcare without interruptions. Moreover, many substances for finished dosage forms are made in the Russian Federation, and this process is on the rise. I am pleased to say that within the next few months Promomed Group is opening one of the country's largest facilities to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients at the Biokhimik plant. This facility includes seven workshops, three of which will be involved in the synthesis of molecules for anti-cancer products, in total more than 150 types of active molecules. The new production site will be a huge step forward. And the entire domestic pharmaceutical industry is now doing a lot to completely remove the issue of drug supply security from our agenda.

Today it is very important that the Russian pharmaceutical industry transform the practice of the generic development model into innovative model. As correctly articulated in the Pharma 2030 consept, our goal is to have our own original drugs in all key therapeutic groups, and that these molecules are properly protected by patents. Because the emergence of a large number of innovative drugs is a new qualitative level of healthcare. For national economy this is a new export potential. After all, new drugs are something that Russia can export with no less success than oil, gas, nuclear energy, and so on. This is the next challenge we have to deal with. We have learned how to produce any generics and now we need to learn how to produce innovative drugs in sufficient quantities in the most important therapeutic groups.

The industry also faces another big challenge, the need to create a whole system for the production of biotechnological drugs. This is a new generation of therapy. There are more and more such drugs around the world, drugs for diseases that were not treated before, or those that can be treated more effectively and safely. Our company is also taking important steps in this direction.

At the same meeting on intellectual property issues, you mentioned the regulatory inequality between domestic drug manufacturers and Western companies among the main problems of the pharmaceutical industry. In particular, you said that today it is necessary to create a system that would stimulate and support the launch of Russian innovative medicines. What steps do you expect from the government to achieve this?

Petr Bely: This is the most important topic. From the Soviet past, we have inherited a kind of «prohibitive» system for considering patent applications in which many aspects of the breadth of legal protection are cut off at the stage of consideration. At the same time, we see other practices in the world, when applicants, on the contrary, receive the maximum amount of legal protection for their intellectual property.

And we must admit that positive changes are already taking place. Today Rospatent cooperates with the industry. Mechanisms for accelerated consultation have already been created, when not only pharmaceutical companies, but also research teams from universities or research centers can apply directly to Rospatent, get advice on how patentable an invention is, where it is necessary to strengthen evidence, where it is better to direct efforts to obtain the maximum breadth of defensive protection. It is absolutely, critically necessary that our industry enjoy the same patent protection practices as the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. Then our developments will receive a system platform for development in foreign markets.

Source: rg.ru