A significant complication of the international situation and the introduction of restrictive sanctions against Russia by unfriendly states have created a number of problems for the functioning of the domestic pharmaceutical industry. From the first day of the start of the Special Military Operation (SMO), the Association of Russian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers actively participated in the search for a way out of the current situation and the development of new logistics routes and alternative options for cooperation in the supply of reference materials, active pharmaceutical ingredients, excipients, as well as packaging materials, technological and analytical equipment for the pharmaceutical industry. Thanks to the joint work of the industry and regulators, today the situation is relatively normal, and many of the issues that have arisen have been resolved.
However, despite the significant optimization of supply chains, the problematic link at the moment is the Belarusian direction. In connection with the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus of September 14, 2022 N 604 «On changing the resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus of April 22, 2022 N 247», transit traffic through the Republic of Belarus has become significantly more complicated. The restrictions included finished medicines, including bulk ones, medical devices, spare parts for them, raw materials, materials for the production of medicines and (or) medical devices that are not included in the State Register of Medicines of the Republic of Belarus or the Unified Register of Registered Medicines of the Eurasian economic union. It should be noted that the pan-Eurasian register is still at the stage of formation, and many domestic medicines have not been entered into the state register of medicines of Belarus.
Such transit cargoes are subject to transshipment, which entails not only additional financial and time costs, but also difficulties with issuing insurance policies and other accompanying documents, threats of non-compliance with the GMP, GDP Rules for reasons beyond the control of manufacturers and owners of the goods, as well as the risks of complete refusal to use transit routes through the Republic of Belarus.
Victor Dmitriev, General Director of the Association of Russian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, expressed his concern about the situation that had arisen from the rostrum of the All-Russian Congress “Right to Health”. He turned to Vladimir Krugliy, a member of the Federation Council and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia, with a request to direct joint efforts to eliminate the existing difficulties as soon as possible and noted, that Russian patients today complain about difficulties in choosing the medicines they need or are used to, and such inconsistent decisions lead to obstacles in building supply chains within the Union State, have a negative impact on the cost of medical and pharmaceutical products and may cause risks of lack of medicines and medical devices.