International congress “Biotechnology. Current condition and future perspective” hosted a meeting on “Interaction of research and business in key directions of biotechnology and biomedicine. Commercialization of domestic developments”.

ARPM Director General, Victor Dmitriev was a moderator of the conference. “Biotechnologies together with information and noon-technologies are defined as the key directions of the development of the economy. The world market of biotechnologies accounts for $ 300 billion. It continues to grow by 10-12% annually and could reach $600 billion by 2020. Biotechnologies, biomedicine, and bio-pharmacy are the leading areas of the economy,” said Mr. Dmitirev. The Roszdravnadzor has recently gained new power to control biotechnology and cellular technologies. Business is to submit corrections and suggestions on how to design the system to be more effective and secure.

Director of Economics of “R-Pharm” Alexander Bikov spoke on his company’s experience. A new technological production line was opened at the Yaroslavl factory. Together with GE "R-Pharm" carried out the transfer for the production of disposable systems of monoclonal antibodies. This model allows for the production of the highest quality medicines with reducing costs of production.

A separate discussion was the issue of pricing of vaccines for the National Immunization Calendar. The current regulatory framework does not allow for the purchase of the biotech products at prices higher than last years. Production of these productions became unprofitable. “I will not compare it with the rate to the dollar or the euro. I will compare the price to the cost of a ride on the subway — today it is 55 rubles. The vaccine from the list is 7 times cheaper. This is nonsense,” said Mr. Dmitirev.