Victor Dmitriev on Russian pharmaceuticals in the era of a pandemic

Speaking on September 29 at a meeting of the Marketing and Corporate Strategy Committee of the Association of Managers, Chairman of the Public Council under the Federal service for Surveillance in Healthcare (Roszdravnadzor) Victor Dmitriev noted that the era of COVID-19 has changed the paradigm of the industry: “We are not catching up, but are being caught up with” the speaker said, referring to the development and production of Russian anti-covid vaccines..

However, it is necessary to separate science and the ability to scale the achieved results. So far, we are not yet 100% satisfying the needs of the healthcare system, and the terms of full filling of the market and satisfaction of all needs, including export, are postponed to a later period.

The speaker also drew attention to the accelerated change in the regulatory framework due to the current epidemic situation in the country. The expected effect of a number of legal acts till the end of 2020 was extended, since they undoubtedly had a positive stimulating effect on both the guaranteed provision of patients with the necessary drugs, and on the Russian pharmaceutical industry.

Unfortunately, in addition to the positive experience, the pandemic and emergency short-sightedness led to a number of decisions that had a negative impact on the market situation. These decisions include the introduction of mandatory labeling of medicinal products from July 1, 2020 and the adoption of a decree on a single supplier of personal protective equipment (PPE). Later on, these decisions were corrected, but at what cost! However, negative experience is also an experience. It is necessary to learn from it, so as not to make similar mistakes in the future.

Victor Dmitriev once again complained that today the pharmaceutical market is regulated by at least three large structures: the Ministry of Health of Russia (represented by the Ministry of Health itself and Roszdravnadzor), the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the FAS, and each of them has its own KPIs, which do not correlate with each other. “The ecosystem of the pharmaceutical market must be brought to a single regulator, as it does in most countries,” the speaker concluded.

Recalling that the meeting, the topic of which was “Pharma at the center of change: how did the pandemic change the market and can the industry become the core of a new healthcare ecosystem in the post-covid period?”, was organized by the Association of Managers in cooperation with Joint Stock Financial Corporation Sistema.